Homes that are definitely no shelters

Satya Prakash in New Delhi

Recent tales of horror emerging from Muzaffarpur and Deoria have once again brought shelter homes for destitute girls and women under scanner. The manner and extent of sexual violence perpetrated against orphaned girls as young as seven by those mandated to protect them have shocked the nation and forced the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the issue.  

The recurring reason why most of these shelter homes have not been able to justify the objective of their existence are the manner in which these are set up and function without proper monitoring and accountability despite being run at the expense of taxpayers’ money. This prompted a Bench, headed by Justice Madan B Lokur, to comment that the Bihar Government was funding rapes of minor girls. “You are giving money to NGOs which are doing all these things…,” it had observed angrily.

The shelter homes are non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which can be set up either under the Societies Registration Act, 1960, or The Indian Trusts Act, 1882, or the Companies Act. The first two laws are usually used by activists to get their NGOs registered while the last one is preferred by the corporate world. Typically a state government’s welfare department puts out advertisements in newspapers inviting applications for running shelter homes under specified conditions. Things are reportedly decided by an unholy nexus among unscrupulous activists, corrupt bureaucrats and politicians as the NGOs that run shelter homes get huge government funding.

Housing misery

It has been alleged that girls as young as seven were raped after being drugged by the shelter home owner Brajesh Thakur and staff at Muzaffarpur. In many cases they were forced to sleep naked and scalded with boiling water. As an unholy alliance of politicians, police and officials and criminals sexually exploited these innocent girls, everyone, including the neighbours, chose to ignore their cries. After the sexual abuse of a large number of inmates was discovered, many of them went missing. At least 26 women were reportedly missing from two shelter homes in Pratapgarh, as surprise checks by the district administration found earlier this week. During the inspection of Jagrati Shelter Home in Ashtbhuja Nagar, 15 women were registered but only one was reportedly present. It’s suspected that the missing women have been pushed into flesh trade.

Allegations and charges 

The most serious charge these offenders face includes rape. After a recent amendment, rape of minor girls below the age of 12 now attracts a minimum 20-year jail term. The maximum punishment can go up to life imprisonment and even death penalty. For rape of girls below 16, maximum punishment is 20-year jail term and for those above 16, the minimum punishment 10-year term while maximum is life imprisonment.

Rights and rehabilitation

The Supreme Court, on July 25, approved a scheme which provides for uniform compensation to women survivors of sexual assault. The SC asked the Centre and states to implement it in letter and spirit. Under the scheme, prepared by the National Legal Services Authority’s (NALSA), survivors of gang-rape would get a minimum compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a maximum of Rs 10 lakh. Victims of rape and unnatural sexual assault would get a minimum of Rs 4 lakh and a maximum of Rs 7 lakh as compensation.

As the scheme did not have provisions for monetary aid to child victims of sexual assault, the SC directed that suitable modifications should be carried out to extend the benefits of the scheme to child victims, irrespective of their gender. Any victim or her family member is entitled to approach the state or district legal services authority with a copy of the FIR and medical report to claim the compensation amount. 

In case of pregnancy caused by rape, victims would get compensation between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh. Similarly, miscarriage or loss of fertility due to sexual assaults would entitle the victims to a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.

Under the amended rape law, courts can also impose fine on convicts and the money would go to victims.

Needed a professional touch 

These horror stories have exposed the efficacy of statutory bodies such as the National Child Rights Commission, the State Child Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women and their state counterparts, besides the Union and the state women and child welfare departments in safeguarding rights of women and children.

 Social activist Sanjay Singh, founder of Break the Silence Foundation which works with victims of child sexual abuse, says the licence of shelter or children’s home should only be given to qualified professionals.

“Only the Ministry of Women and Child Development should be given authority to issue the clearance certificate to set up shelter homes or children’s home. A stringent background check should be done before issuing the license to the managers of shelter houses or children’s home. Children in need of care and protection require counselling and utmost care.

 “There should be transparent checks at regular intervals by a third party consisting of qualified professionals from reputed institutes. CCTV cameras should be installed in all shelter homes and footage should be scanned regularly by qualified social work professionals. The law should be amended to put a special clause with stringent punishment under the aggravated category for those running shelter homes,” is the advice by Singh.