Form teams to monitor child care centres: Maneka

In the wake of the recent rape incident at the government-run shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi on Monday ordered constitution of teams at the state and district level for regular monitoring of the Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAA) and Child-Care Institutions (CCIs).

"Deeply anguished over the incident of sexual assault on minor girls at a Muzaffarpur Shelter Home, I have directed WCD ministry officers to put in place a mechanism so that the women and children at all such institutions are able to reach out to us for help", the minister tweeted.

Gandhi further added that Child Welfare Committees (CWC) need to be constituted in each district with immediate effect. She also insisted on registration of the CCIs under the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act and linking it to the Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA).

"To facilitate an expeditious and smooth adoption process, Child-Care Institutions must feed in the details of children on the Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System (CARINGS), the web-based platform," she said.

The minister said the District Magistrates and District Collectors should take the responsibility of monitoring the adoption programmes which are implemented at the district level and also directed the officials to streamline the adoption process and ensure its completion within the stipulated time.

According to Muzzafarpur police, the shelter home was sealed after the sexual abuse of girl inmates came to light during a social audit by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. The report was submitted to the state Social Welfare Department, which directed officials to lodge a complaint.

A medical examination of 44 girls of the home revealed that 21 of them were raped. The district police has arrested some officials of the home.

--IANS

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