Mumbai:
The Bombay high court has directed the government to appoint a woman police officer and investigate within 30 days the abuse of mentally challenged children at a private orphanage in Kavdas village, Thane.
The court was hearing a PIL on the death of five mentally-challenged children due to malnutrition. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Thane, which rescued 18 inmates of the orphanage, found that two girls had been sexually abused.
Lawyers appearing for the state and the CWC blamed each other for the mess. CWC lawyer Nitin Pradhan said the government did not bother to verify who was setting up orphanages but permitted people to set up such institutions even in shops. State counsel Jyoti Pawar said the CWC did not visit these homes or express its concern until the deaths took place.
"They did not have the facilities. How did you allow such institutions to come up? We came to know the situation because of one home. Do you know the condition of 29 other homes where children are kept?" the court asked the state.
The judges had asked CWC to keep the girls in KEM where they can have treatment. The hospital's lawyer submitted a psychiatry department report that the girls can be discharged. The judges directed CWC to find alternative accommodation for them in a week.
Copyright restricted. Under license from
www.3dsyndication.com