THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The shortage of children's homes for girls in the state is forcing the authorities to stuff the orphaned and destitute girls in overcrowded orphanages and 'mahila mandirams' meant for adult women destitutes. The state has 11 Nirbhaya homes but they are exclusively for victims of sexual abuse. But for girls in need of care and protection - orphans, destitutes, the abandoned and differently-abled - the state has just three homes, in Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Kannur. The Juvenile Justice Rules, 2007, mandates that separate children's homes should be established for girls in the age group of 10 to 18 years. "The absence of enough children's homes for girls has led to overcrowding in already strained orphanages," a top social justice department official said.
The department has found that in certain districts like Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Alappuzha, girls were placed in 'mahila mandirams' or institutions run by NGOs which were not declared as fit. (A 'fit institution' refers to a government- or NGO-run organisation for children that has been declared as suitable to provide care and protection to children by a competent authority.) The figures provided by the social justice department show that nearly 200 girls in Thiruvananthapuram and nearly 70 girls in Alappuzha were sent to various orphanages between 2012 and 2016. But girls were also shifted to institutions where the ambience was inappropriate for their emotional stability. For instance, between 2010 and 2016 over 350 girls were sent to a 'mahila mandiram' in Thrissur that lodged women caught under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.
In 2015, the Child Welfare Committee in Thrissur had admitted that placing the children with orphanages was posing serious problems as these orphanages were not registered under JJ Act. It was also noted that these orphanages were reluctant to take in girls with behavioural problems and physical handicaps. "Many children who were eventually admitted to these orphanages following state pressure had complained of unfriendly treatment inside the homes," the official said. The absence of a home for girls has also led to other serious violations of the JJ Act. The Comptroller and Auditor General had in 2016 noted that girls and boys were lodged in the same children's home in Nooranad, Alappuzha.
