CHENNAI: The one-man committee headed by retired judge K Chandru has recommended a paradigm shift in the maintenance of juvenile homes and handling the welfare of children in conflict with the law (CCL). The 495-page report, submitted to the government on Tuesday, recommended measures which included enacting a law to set up the Tamil Nadu Board of Special Services for Children - an autonomous body for establishing and maintaining observation homes, special homes, etc; creation of a new department called the Department of Special Services (DSS) by bifurcating the Directorate of Social Defence; building at least one home for CCLs in each district and ensuring adequate recreation facilities for children in the homes.
Chief Minister MK Stalin said the recommendations of the committee would be implemented soon and thanked Chandru for giving a detailed report without receiving any remuneration. The committee has made elaborate recommendations regarding inmate management, infrastructure, health and medical facilities, training and capacity building, food and nutrition, staffing, stakeholder participation, and aftercare issues, among others.
The committee was formed in April after the death of a 17-year-old boy within a day of his admission to the government observation home in Chengalpattu in December last year and his mother demanded a thorough inquiry into his death. Chandru made the recommendations after visiting many juvenile homes in the state and a home in Karnataka, and after holding discussions with a number of stakeholders. Several leading psychiatrists and psychologists also provided input to the committee.
The committee has recommended setting up the Tamil Nadu Board of Special Services for CCLs to administer all government homes and it should be an autonomous body. “Such legislation alone will bring lasting peace and solve the problems which have surfaced so far. The board should have directors drawn from the fields of security, children’s education, psychiatry and children’s health and a member from civil society chosen from an NGO working in the field of juvenile justice,” the report states.
The affairs of the homes should be monitored on a daily basis by the DSS and a special monitoring room should be created for it. The practice of giving preference to alleged ex-inmates during recruitment must be stopped forthwith. The existing service rules for the department for various posts must be revamped and new rules prescribing qualifications and aptitudes must be made.
A training academy should be established to impart continuous training and orientation to the staff appointed to manage the homes. Special curriculum should be evolved and updated, and the staff should be sent for training from time to time to keep abreast of changes in law and approach. The children who are admitted should be given adequate recreation facilities should not be confined to their rooms 24x7 and must be allowed to play in the open or closed ground meant for the same.
The panel said the state government should immediately notify the rules framed for the amendment made to the Juvenile Justice Act, which received the assent of the President on September 1, 2022. The proposals were sent by the director of social defence on August 18.
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