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Summary: Three children have run away from the children's home in which they resided due to mistreatment by the management, including forced labour and whipping.
[IMPHAL, 13 February 2011] - Three inmates of a children home run by Leprosy Patients Welfare Society (LEWS) located in Chingmeirong Lei-Ingkhol, ran away from the home following mistreatment by the secretary of the management committee.
The incident happened some two months ago, but the matter only came to light after several child rights activists recently conducted an investigation into the case. When a team of media-persons met one of the inmates who ran away from the children’s home, a 12-year old boy named Lemba (name changed) from Kongba, was found to be in a disturbed state. The other two inmates are from Canchipur and Nagamapal.
Lemba lost both his parents four years ago and has been staying in the LEWS Children Home for about one year. He has one younger brother who is staying at another children home in Imphal. Lemba narrated his ordeal at the children’s home with tearful eyes. He said that the secretary of the home, A. Tolen Meitei, used the inmates as bonded labourers by making them carry bricks, sand and wood for his household purposes.
Tolen frequently canned those inmates who refused to work and he did not provide adequate food and clothes for them, he said. Lemba stated that he along with two other inmates ran away from the home after the secretary severely canned them for no reason. He said that on that day he was asked by the secretary to call in some of his friends who were playing outside, and did as he was asked. But the secretary then whipped three of them severely giving no reason. They decided to leave the home as they could no longer bear the torments and harassment given by the secretary.
The home accommodates about 30 inmates including three girls, but these children are in a deplorable condition with no proper food, clothes and even education, said a relative of Lemba.
He was admitted to the children’s home after depositing a sum of Rs 1,000 with the hope that the boy would get proper education and training so as to make him stand on his own two feet one day, but to their disappointment, Lemba was kept in a deplorable environment, the relative lamented. As per the rules of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of the Child) Act, the inmates of a children’s home should be given proper food, clothes, shelter, education along with recreation and medical facilities. The government gives regular grants-in-aid to the management committee for the proper care and protection of the inmates of the home.
But, the LEWS Children’s Home seems to violate these rules by not providing proper food, shelter and education to the inmates.
The city coordinator of Child Line Imphal, Th. Ibethoi stated that there have been reports of about seven inmates running away from the LEWS Home in the past. The inmates of this home have been found in a pathetic condition devoid of all provisions mentioned by the rules of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of the Child) Act.
So far the concerned authority has not taken any action against the management committee. It will be a great loss for society if children’s homes, which should shelter destitute and orphaned children, in practice harass children and violate the rules for the sake of earning money, she asserted. Further Information:
pdf: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/02/inmates-of-children-home-run-out-due-to-...