HC may govern all children’s shelter homes in the state
Should the Bombay High Court be the guardian of all shelter homes for children with disabilities within Maharashtra? The court is likely to examine this issue, which has been raised in a public interest litigation (PIL) taken up by the court based on this newspaper’s exposé in August 2010.
Professor Asha Bajpai, who is heading the HC-appointed State Coordination Committee for Child Protection (SCCCP), has requested the division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice BP Colabawalla to consider doing this.
Bajpai, in a representation submitted to the bench, has cited the Justice JS Verma committee’s recommendations to the Union government submitted in January 2013. One of the recommendations called for by the Union government in the wake of the Nirbhaya rape case of December 2012 says that all the children’s homes, observation homes, juvenile homes and women’s protective homes “be placed under the legal guardianship of the high court”.
The bench has directed Bajpai and her colleagues in the committee to come with a list of vocational training that can be provided to the children in these shelter homes, keeping their long-term future in mind. The direction was issued after the bench was informed that two kids from the Mankhurd home for Mentally Deficient Children (MDC) were transferred to a home for normal children as their IQ levels were normal.
Impressed with their progress, the HC observed that it was important to ensure that such kids become independent when they become adults and therefore they should be provided some vocational training in the homes.
Based on a request made by Professor Bajpai, the HC directed that the new children’s home where these two kids have been transferred should take care that they gel properly with other regular kids of that shelter home.
Bajpai and her colleague Sarita Shankaran also informed the court that keeping the long-term future of the kids under their Project Chunauti, they had formed a committee of experts to guide the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of the over 90 children under the project.
Professor Asha Bajpai, who is heading the HC-appointed State Coordination Committee for Child Protection (SCCCP), has requested the division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice BP Colabawalla to consider doing this.
Bajpai, in a representation submitted to the bench, has cited the Justice JS Verma committee’s recommendations to the Union government submitted in January 2013. One of the recommendations called for by the Union government in the wake of the Nirbhaya rape case of December 2012 says that all the children’s homes, observation homes, juvenile homes and women’s protective homes “be placed under the legal guardianship of the high court”.
The recommendation also includes homes for children with disabilities and was made with a view that this would ensure that special facilities are provided to the children by the state or by the institution under whose care they have been lodged. “We would examine this issue,” the bench told Professor Bajpai during the hearing on Friday.
The bench has directed Bajpai and her colleagues in the committee to come with a list of vocational training that can be provided to the children in these shelter homes, keeping their long-term future in mind. The direction was issued after the bench was informed that two kids from the Mankhurd home for Mentally Deficient Children (MDC) were transferred to a home for normal children as their IQ levels were normal.
Impressed with their progress, the HC observed that it was important to ensure that such kids become independent when they become adults and therefore they should be provided some vocational training in the homes.
Based on a request made by Professor Bajpai, the HC directed that the new children’s home where these two kids have been transferred should take care that they gel properly with other regular kids of that shelter home.
Bajpai and her colleague Sarita Shankaran also informed the court that keeping the long-term future of the kids under their Project Chunauti, they had formed a committee of experts to guide the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of the over 90 children under the project.
