NHRC issues notice to Jharkhand Govt over poor upkeep, management of Jamshedpur Juvenile Home

Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) [India], August 24 : The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India has taken suo motu cognizance of the report of its Special Rapporteur on the lack of adequate facilities, care and rehabilitation plans for the inmates in the overcrowded Juvenile Justice Home (JJH), run by the Government of Jharkhand, an official release said.
The Commission has observed that a Government institution cannot be allowed to remain in complete apathy and neglect due to the negligence of the officers, causing human rights violations of the children in conflict with the law, some of whom have been staying in JJH for years together.
Accordingly, it has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and the Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Jharkhand, seeking a report within six weeks on points regarding, whether, cases have been registered, if not, what steps have been taken to register cases due to torture indulged by the police personnel upon the juveniles and under what compulsions, police personnel have been deputed in the JJH? If cases registered what is the status of the same?
It also asked for a report on steps that have been taken to install CCTV cameras in the common places in JJH due to which incidents of torture and beating up by the police personnel remained unnoticed.
Reports on the steps taken or proposed to be taken for improving the living condition, including proper light, fan, adequate number of bed sheets, sufficient quantity of toilets for children and road map for adequate planning for each child for his welfare with regard to their stay in the Juvenile Justice Home have also been asked.
The release said that NHRC has sought reports on steps that have been taken to improve the kitchen condition and to provide clean and well-cooked food to the juveniles in a conducive and conjure atmosphere.
It also sought information on the steps taken or to be taken to segregate the children of different age groups and also children who suffered from severe and heinous crimes from petty offenses.
It asked for reports on the steps taken or to be taken to facilitate the removal of children aged more than 18 years from JJH since it is contrary to the JJ Act and the steps taken or to be taken to reduce the overcrowding, including children staying beyond the sanctioned capacity of the JJH.
Other points regarding which NHRC seeks reports include steps taken or to be taken to improve the skill development of children, further study, adequate playground, and increase the number of teachers to adhere to the quality education, which is the need of the hour, road map for time-bound filling of posts, which remain vacant, under the JJ Act and the steps taken or proposed to be taken fix up the responsibility upon the Superintendent and District Welfare Officer as to why they are not visiting JJHR frequently by submitting their reports to the authorities concerned.
According to the report of the NHRC Special Rapporteur, Suchitra Sinha, the Juvenile Home is overcrowded with very poor basic facilities. There have been violent fights among the groups of juveniles due to poor security lack of supervision and a shortage of staff for effective monitoring.
According to the release, superior officers including the District Welfare officer rarely visited the juvenile homes, resulting in a lack of accountability. No counsellor was apparently available. In fact, it is being run by a House Father and four police personnel, who very badly beat up the juveniles, in the absence of CCTV surveillance.
"There is no plan to shift out the inmates who are now above 18 years old and continue to live with the inmates much younger to them without any segregation between those who committed petty offenses and those heinous crimes. The condition of the kitchen is very poor, the juveniles repeatedly complained of the shortage of toiletry items. There is a lack of initiative to rehabilitate children in conflict with the law," it added.