The Supreme Court today said it was concerned over sexual and physical abuse of children at shelter homes across India and asked the Centre what action has it taken in the cases related to such abuse of 1,575 minors.
The apex court, while asking the government to consider framing a child protection policy, observed that according to social audit conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development from 2015 to March last year, 1,575 children were abused and now were living in the shelter homes.
"We are concerned about whether the children are looked after properly or whether they are abused in shelter homes," a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said.
The bench, also comprising justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand, who was appearing for the Centre as to what action has been taken in these cases.
"1,575 boys and girls are victims of sexual and physical abuse. What have you done about it? Which are the shelter homes where they are kept? What action the states have taken on this," the bench asked the ASG.
The ASG told the apex court that social audit report was shared with states last year itself.
"Tell us which states have not taken any action," the bench asked.
The ASG said she would get instructions on this and get back to the court.
The government told the court that social audit of child care institutions was conducted by the ministry in 678 districts across the country and as per the report, children were residing in 9,589 such homes.
It said out of these institutions, 32 per cent child care institutions were registered under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act while 33 per cent were unregistered.
Referring to the audit report, the Centre said that 8,744 homes were managed by NGOs and private individuals while there were 845 government-supported homes.
"Did they talk to the children (during the audit)," the bench asked, adding, "Did they find out any incidents of sexual or physical abuse?"
"We are concerned with that and not with this kind of audit. Are the children living there are happy or are they unhappy," the bench asked.
When the ASG said that agency conducting social audit had talked to the children during the process, the bench observed that according to the report, 1,575 children, including 286 boys, were either sexually or physically abused.
The bench said that the affidavit filed by the ministry was "totally unrelated" with the issue which was being dealt with by the apex court.
The ASG said that social audit was being carried out by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the process was likely to be completed by October end.
She said that social audit of over 3,000 homes have already been done by NCPCR and most of the states have given consent for it.
At the outset, the Bihar government placed before the bench the social audit report of shelter homes in the state prepared by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
"What is so secret in this?," the bench asked, adding, "what is the objection in releasing it?".
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Bihar, said that the state do not any have objection if TISS report was made public.
He said that the report was not made public earlier as it contained information which could have been used "for cover up" by those persons against whom action was to be taken in Muzaffarpur shelter home case where girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused.
The bench asked the Bihar government to make the report public.
Kumar told the court that three organisations, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, were already looking into the psycho-social aspect of girls, allegedly sexually abused at the Muzaffarpur shelter home.
Advocate Aparna Bhat, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, referred to the communication she had received from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore in the matter.
The amicus, who had earlier said that NIMHANS should look into the mental and psychiatric health of these victims, said that there appeared to be some confusion as to what NIMHANS has said in view of the involvement of other agencies in the matter.
The bench suggested that these agencies and Bihar government should talk on this issue since the intention was to ensure that these children should not be harassed.
The court said Bihar should take a decision on whether to involve NIMHANS and AIIMS Patna in this.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for TISS, placed before the bench the proposed rehabilitation and reintegration measures which could be taken for welfare of these children.
She also said that TISS has also given a report on the process of how soial audit should be conducted.
The bench asked the NCPCR to take note of the report of TISS on how to conduct social audit.
The apex court, which has taken cognisance of the Bihar incident following a letter by a Patna-based man, had earlier termed as "horrific" the case of alleged sexual abuse of girls in an NGO-run shelter home at Muzaffarpur.
On August 2, the bench had said that investigation in the Muzaffarpur case should be conducted with assistance of professional counsellors or qualified child psychologists appointed in consultation with the NIMHANS, TISS and AIIMS, Delhi.
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