The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Relatives blame government home for boy’s suicide

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Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
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Karnataka

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Relatives blame government home for boy’s suicide

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: The relatives of the minor, who committed suicide at the Government Boys’ Home, have blamed the Department of Women and Child Welfare and Child Welfare Committee for the incident.

The boy reportedly ran away from his house 12 days ago, and allegedly committed suicide around 7 p.m. on Monday. The boy, hailing from Benkikere village in Channagiri of Davangere district, was traced at the Bangalore City Railway station recently and brought to the boys’ home.

Vishwa Sagar, national convenor of Banjara Public Awareness Committee and uncle of the child, said that boy, who was a seventh standard student, ran away from home around 12 days ago and came to Bangalore. He said that he was rescued by Don Bosco from the City Railway Station and put in the Government Boys’ Home. “The child had been repeatedly appealing to the officials at the home to send him back home. The CWC took the address from him, but there seems to have been a delay in contacting the parents,” he said.

Mr. Sagar expressed doubts of how a 14-year-old child could commit suicide at a home, which has a lot of wardens and CWC officials. “With so many adults around, how would it have been possible for the child to commit suicide?” he asked. He alleged that the department and CWC had failed to protect the child.

He said that he would soon stage a protest demanding an investigation into the incident by a judge. “The protest will first be staged in Chitradurga and Davangere, later in Bangalore.”

Meanwhile, sources said that they had been trying to get in touch with the boy’s family since he came to the home. The phone number, which the boy gave them, was incorrect. “We know the efforts that we have taken to contact the child’s family,” they said. The Bangalore Forum for Street and Working Children has blamed the “negligent attitude” of the Department of Women and Child Development for the boy’s death and demanded an inquiry into the incident.

In a press release, the forum said that there have been a series of incidents since 2005 in the boys’ home which warranted better care and protection. The department’s inability to provide due protection had led to recurrence of such cases, I.S. Patil, convenor of the forum, has said in a release.

Mr. Patil alleged that the boys’ home was packed beyond capacity with 100 living in a place sufficient for no more than 30. He alleged in the release that as many as 55 per cent of children in the home suffer from malnutrition.

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