Thiruvananthapuram: It will be not just God who will be watching children in government-run shelter homes from above. From now on, they will be constantly monitored by surveillance cameras.
The move to install CCTV cameras inside children’s homes, observation and special homes has been taken following the diktat of the Centre. The stated objectives are two: to prevent violence against children inside the home and to check the increasing frequency of escape from homes.
CCTV cameras will be installed in all the eight children’s homes, 14 observation homes and two special homes across the state. Children’s Home is a shelter for poor and orphaned children. Observation homes are where children suspected to be involved in crimes are placed. Special homes are where convicted children are lodged.
It is felt that the ‘third eye’ technology can keep tabs on children attempting to jump out of homes lodging juveniles in conflict with the law, observation and special homes. However, it is not sure whether the technological intervention is a practically sound strategy.
“There is no assurance that the cameras will be safe. Some time ago when we had put up speakers for children in many of these homes, some of the boys dismantled them and sold it in the black market,” a top Social Justice Department official said.
“These CCTV cameras are infinitely more costly and therefore the temptation to unscrew them and sell it outside will be higher,” he added. It has been reported that some of the inmates had cut their way out of locked rooms. “For them, taking down a CCTV from the ceiling will be child’s play. They can also destroy it,” the official said. There is also a moral angle to the surveillance policy.
“To have a technical device on the wall in observation and special homes is understandable as most of the escape attempts are made by boys in such homes. But how can their presence be justified inside Children’s homes where poor girls and boys who have done no wrong live,” asked Saikya Dutta of Save Kids Forum, an NGO based in Chennai.
