Govt tightens norms for children’s shelter homes

Judicial magistrate will probe cases of sexual abuse, escape or death, complete inquiry within 4 weeks LAYING IT IN BLACK & WHITE

NEW DELHI: The government has tightened the norms for conducting inquiry into cases of escape, sexual abuse or death of any child living in child care homes, following the incidents of large scale abuse of girls reported from Child Care Institution (CCI) in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria.

According to the new standard operating procedure (SOP) framed by the child rights body National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in consultation with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), from now on a judicial magistrate will have to probe cases of escape, sexual abuse or death of any child inside a CCI and complete the inquiry within four weeks of receiving the information. Besides, in case of death of a child in custody of CCI or in the course of police action, the magistrate will have to follow the guidelines for conducting of magisterial inquiry as laid down by the NHRC.

The SOP is the first of its kind dealing with escape, runaway or missing child, sexual abuse and death of a child. “Though the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and its rules provides for inquiry in such cases but they do not specify any strict timeline that person-incharge along with other stakeholders need to comply. The law is also silent about the duty of CCI’S to address issues such as escape, runaway or sexual abuse of children living in the institutions,” said Stuti Kacker, NCPCR chairperson.

Kacker added that NCPCR decided to frame to SOPS so as to fix responsibility in such cases.

“In the JJ rules there were gaps. We wanted to fix the gap and also bring uniformity on what CCIS should do in such cases,” the NCPCR chairperson said.

The SOPS also spell out the procedure that authorities have to follow to investigate incidents of sexual abuse and death in CCI.

For instance, every death of the child, irrespective of the cause and circumstance of death, in CCI shall be investigated by the police. In the event of death, the CCI will have to ensure that an inquest and post-mortem examination of the child is held within 24 hours in the presence of parents/ guardians/ judicial magistrate of first class. Judicial magistrate will have to probe cases of escape, sexual abuse or death of any child inside a Child Care Institution and complete the inquiry within four weeks of complaint

Irrespective of the cause and circumstance of the death of the child in CCI, police shall investigate it the CCI will have to ensure that an inquest and postmortem examination of the child is held within 24 hours in the presence of parents/ guardians/ judicial magistrate of first class

During investigation, signs of sexual abuse, if any, should invariably be noted