Thiruvananthapuram: With congestion intensifying the emotional trauma of Nirbhaya Home inmates, the Social Justice Department is looking for a more spacious building to house victims of sexual abuse.
The move has been necessitated by the alarming lack of space in the existing home. At the moment, there are 77 inmates in two adjacent buildings in the capital that are too inadequate that they could be both emotionally and physically suffocating for even 50 traumatised teen-aged girls.
The plan is to have a new centralised home and for the existing homes to continue as 'reception centres'. Victims who cannot be rehabilitated in two or three months, or send back to their homes, should be moved to the centralised home," said advocate J Sandhya, member of the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights.
However, top Social Justice Department sources said that finding a private space would be difficult. "We have been trying for quite long but was not able to zero in on a place that would satisfy certain standards we have set," the official said.
The former district collector, Biju Prabhakar, too, had cast his net wide but was unable to find a right place. "Even when we have found a space, no one is willing to let out the space for these children," he added.The existing buildings lack basic amenities like toilets, reading and recreation places.
There are not enough beds either. "Such a congested life is getting to the nerves of these already-scarred children," the official said. However, he is not sure whether any private building would cater to the needs of the Nirbhaya Home inmates.
"Only if these buildings were custom-made could it have the kind of toilets and other facilities we have envisaged for these victims of sexual abuse," the official said.
A spacious custom-made Nirbhaya Home is the only solution. For such a building to come into existence, it would take at least two years. But in the meantime, the girls need a better place to live.
