12 March 2011 The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the State Government to undertake a survey of all homes for mentally deficient children in the state and submit a report to the court.
The direction follows the rape of five girls and molestation of 14 others at the Kalyani Mahila and Balak Seva Sanstha, a State-sponsored home for mentally challenged girls. Expressing anguish that such an incident should take place just six months after 13 boys and five girls were physically abused at an orphanage at Kavdas in Shahpur, a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice D Y Chandrachud directed Vandana Krishna, principal secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, to take every step possible to prevent a repeat. Officials of Child Welfare Committee, Department of Women and Child Development, and secretary, Social Justice (Welfare) Department were present at the hearing. After the Kavdas incident, the High Court had appointed a five-member Apex Committee to inspect all shelter homes for mentally challenged children across the State. This committee had formed several sub-committees to carry out the surveys and report back. However, the Panvel incident, where girls were raped by visitors and were even smuggled out at odd hours to entertain clients, shows that the sub-committees have either been ineffectual, or have not been able to cover all shelter homes. The High Court on Thursday clubbed the Panvel case with a PIL on the Kavdas orphanage incident. Accepting a suggestion made by Dr Asha Bajpai, chairperson of the Apex Committee, the High Court on Friday made it clear that the State-wide survey covering homes for mentally challenged children must evaluate the kids' mental and physical health, and also put them through regular paediatric and gynaecological tests. Dr Bajpai wanted to know how a shelter home such as the one in Panvel could be given a licence to function. "Authorities issuing licences to such centres should be punished," a committee member said. The court was told that shelter homes were issued licences by the CWC and DWCD, but the final approval comes from the minister of state for women and child development. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2011031220110312040336816e044ca60 <http://www.mumbaimirror.com/ftr2> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
