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Juvenile homes in a delinquent state

Frequent incidents of inmates escaping from the correctional institutions attached to the State Department of Social Welfare at Vellimadukunnu have become a cause of worry for the authorities. Five inmates escaped from Juvenile Home for Girls, one from Juvenile Home for Boys and two from the Mahila Mandiram in the latest incident on Monday. Later, one of the missing inmates of the Mahila Mandiram was picked up from Bangladesh Colony.

As many as 22 inmates escaped from these institutions in the past year. Eleven of them are still missing, the police say.

The campus at Vellimadukunnu has the After Care Home for Girls in the age 18 to 23; Mahila Mandiram for women above 23 years; Juvenile Home for Girls; Juvenile Home for Boys; Observation Home for Boys; Observation Home for Girls; Old Age Home and Short Stay Home.

The juvenile homes provide shelter to 260 inmates, including 130 boys, while the After Care Home houses 60 girls. Most of the inmates are from other States, particularly Tamil Nadu. At least five of the children who escaped on Monday are from Tamil Nadu, three of them from the same family.

Only 10 persons have been employed to look after 260 inmates at the juvenile homes. The Juvenile Justice Act stipulates that the ratio of inmates to staff should be 1:10, officials say.

Every year the government allocates funds for improving the lot of the inmates and setting up infrastructure facilities. But the authorities have not been able to construct a compound wall. The existing wall has collapsed at one part and the area has become a haven for anti-social elements, the police say.

A majority of juveniles are from other States who got separated from their parents who migrated to the city. Officials say that many parents reach the juvenile homes to collect their missing children. But they return disappointed because they do not possess valid documents to prove their case before the Child Welfare Committee.

Incidentally, the parents of the three missing children belonging to the same family had reached the juvenile home on the previous day to take back their kids.

The police say that the juvenile home authorities report about missing inmates quite late. Otherwise the missing children could be easily traced, they say.

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Juvenile homes in a delinquent state

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