Probe under way into inmates’ escape from 2 children’s homes

TIRUCHY: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has taken suo moto cognisance of the escape of minors from the government observation homes in Vellore and Kanchipuram and an investigation has commenced against the incident, said the NCPCR member RG Anand here on Friday.

Speaking after inspecting the observation homes in Thanjavur and Tiruchy, Anand said, he has been conducting inspections in as many as 21 places in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala for the past 10 days. “The inspection in Karnataka, Andhra, and Telangana have been completed and in Tamil Nadu, the inspection was over in Chennai and Coimbatore,” he said.

Stating that the MASI (Monitoring App for Seamless Inspections) mobile App that has been created to aid and inspect the childcare institutions has become a supporting system for all the stakeholders and has been providing all required information from across the nation.

The App will also provide the amenities available and even the details about the visitors which will be available to every official.

“We have been inspecting the homes based on the information provided in MASI and now, we consider the Thanjavur and Tiruchy homes are well-equipped”, he said.

Meanwhile, the NCPCR member stated that the childcare institutions have been working for preventing child marriages and the number of children rescued from getting married has been increasing year by year. “This shows that the toll-free number 1098 has reached well among the people and the awareness level has also been increased against child marriages,” Anand said.

He also said that the children are aware of good touch and bad touch and this is the result of the awareness programmes, he said.

Stating that six persons each from Vellore and Kanchipuram homes have escaped, the NCPCR member said the commission received information that four of them were rescued. Based on the media information, the NCPCR has taken suo moto cognisance of the escape of the inmates.

“The state government should have extra care on the childcare institutions to upkeep the safety of the minor inmates,” he added.

RG Anand, member of NCPCR, said the govt observation homes in Thanjavur, Tiruchy are well-equipped