No separate quarantine centres for rescued children

LUCKNOW : Even as the state government is quarantining migrant workers returning home from other states, there is still no separate arrangement for children who are rescued or held for any crime.

Such children are usually produced before the Child Welfare Committees and then lodged in a child home whereas minors are lodged in observation home if arrested for some crime. During lockdown, these children are being quarantined with other people in regular quarantine centres, which experts feel is not safe for them.

A couple of days ago, Lucknow police rescued three children from Thakurganj and they were quarantined in a centre. They fled the same night but were nabbed within 10 hours.

“They are not kept in police lockup, or with other person due to their vulnerability to sexual abuse and mental suffering. In corona times, when people are already distressed, sending children to normal quarantine home is not an ideal move,” said Umesh Gupta, a child rights activist.

However the government claims that every shelter home has one room as a quarantine centre for children who are rescued or recovered. However, the majority of shelter homes are overcrowded. Even in Lucknow, many shelter homes have more children than the capacity to house them.

According to a senior woman and child welfare department official, nearly 500 children are lodged in five government-run shelter homes in Lucknow against the sanctioned capacity of about 350.

“Shelter homes are already bursting at the seams. How can

› Shelter homes are already bursting at the seams. How can a child be quarantined there? SANGEETA SHARMA, member, Child Welfare Committee, Lucknow

a child be quarantined there,” said Sangeeta Sharma, member Child Welfare Committee, Lucknow. CWC had also written to the chief medical officer to arrange a quarantine centre for children separately, as children are rescued almost every day.

“We rescued some children working as labourers and quarantined them in their homes but we do not have any exclusive facility for those who are homeless or not known to us, ” she added.

An official, requesting anonymity said, “If we talk about the quarantine room at shelter homes, staffers are sceptical about it citing corona scare.”

A child psychologist Dr. Aniket Gupta said, “Children are not only vulnerable to sexual abuse but also to stress. If they are quarantined, they need to be counselled properly.”

Earlier, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued an advisory to states regarding child safety during lockdown. The panel was concerned about the children, especially the homeless.