CHENNAI – Dhanalakshmi was 14 and pregnant when she was rescued from a children’s home in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
She had been entrusted into the care of the unregistered institution by her mother, a ragpicker who could no longer afford another mouth to feed.
But instead of receiving protection, the teenager was raped for months by staff in the home, according to a report by a committee set up by the local social welfare department to investigate the matter.
“Her story blew the lid off something we have known for a long time,” said Zaheeruddin Mohammad, a member of the committee which also fought for the rights of the girl to be protected.
“Inside unregistered homes, there is rampant abuse and little care for the needs of a child.”
State authorities have closed 500 homes since 2011, citing mismanagement, a lack of registration and misconduct, but human rights groups say abuse is rife across the 1 500 government and state institutions in the state. Rights groups have long complained that children’s homes in India are poorly regulated, not inspected often enough, and that many privately-run institutions are able to operate without a licence, leaving thousands of children open to mistreatment.
The scope of the problem was outlined in a petition filed in Chennai’s High Court by A Narayanan, the director of advocacy group CHANGEindia.
“Not a week passes without news of neglect, physical violences such as torture and branding with irons, sexual abuse, including rape, murder and suicides in childcare homes in Tamil Nadu,” the affidavit said.
“Pull of good education”
Child rights campaigners estimate that 200 000 children in Tamil Nadu are residents of private orphanages, state-supported care homes, Islamic madrassas, temples and hostels.
Many children are not orphans, but placed in institutional care by their parents too poor to feed, clothe and shelter them.
“An increasing number of these children are from marginalised families,” CHANGEindia’s Narayanan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“The parents are lured by the pull of good education and promise of better care for their children. They are relying on institutional care.”
Various reports submitted to the government in the past five years have warned of shoddy conditions in children’s homes — from poor lighting and cramped accommodation to violence.
In the majority of reported cases, the perpetrators of abuse have been wardens, watchmen, cooks and other staff.
Tamil Nadu government officials have said in court that they were looking at the recommendations made by campaigners, which include better monitoring of homes, individual childcare plans, more counsellors and improved foster care. –
