DGP asked to ensure kids’ safety in dera orphanages

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 22

Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (HSCPCR) chairperson Jyoti Bainda has written a letter to BS Sandhu, DGP, asking him to take measures for the safety and security of children living in protection homes located in Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda in case any untoward incidents happen in the wake of the upcoming verdict in a rape case against dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

“It is brought to your notice that childcare institutions—Shahi Asra Ashram and Shahi Betiyan Basera—- are functioning at Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa. The commission during inspection on August 20 found that 29 boys and 36 girls were living in these two shelter homes,” she says in her latter.

Speaking to The Tribune, Jyoti Bainda said during her visit to the shelter homes in Sirsa “I found that the arrangements for board and lodging, schooling and meals for children very good”. However, certain discrepancies were also found in the functioning of the orphanages which were pointed out to the Dera Sacha Sauda management .

She said children below the age of 6 were to be linked with the State Adoption Agency but the dera had not done so. Similarly, the management was asked to produce the inmates before the Child Welfare Committee in the district and install CCTV cameras in the lawns of the orphanages.

Advisory on Blue Whale game

Meanwhile, the commission is issuing an advisory to all private and government schools in the state to counsel students about the risk of ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ and other similar online games.

The advisory aims at directing the management of all schools to educate students from Classes V to XII about the deadly, hazardous and negative impact of ‘Blue Whale Challenge’, which has reportedly claimed lives of several people worldwide.

Jyoti Bainda, chairperson of the commission, said the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had already issues notices to schools to curb the menace.