Chennai: Private hostels and NGO homes have come under the state government scanner now. Following the tragic incident of two girl children in Pollachi being raped in an NGO home, chief minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday held a high-level meeting with ministers and officials before evolving a detailed framework to ensure safety for girl children and women staying at such hostels and homes across the state.
Her blueprint for women’s safety includes guidelines for appointing wardens in such homes and also the responsibilities of district administrations to register the homes and conduct periodical checks.
Recalling how she took the lead in releasing a 13-point agenda for women’s protection after the gang rape of a paramedical student in Delhi in 2012, Jayalalithaa said she had ordered the officials to provide medical care for the two girl children in Pollachi and also disburse Rs 3 lakh each as compensation. At the end of the high-level meet, she has ordered that any hostel should be permitted to run only after getting the permissions and verification by authorities.
In the case of running a home for kids, its managers should provide separate residential facilities for male and female children. Only women should be appointed as wardens in homes for girl children and women. “There should be at least one warden for every 50 children in these hostels,” said the CM in a statement released at the end of her marathon meet.
The CM said hostel inmates would be made to sign in the register kept at the reception both while leaving the hostel and returning. “CCTV and digital video recorder should be installed in the homes that have more than 50 inmates. Wardens must keep a vigil on visitors and ensure they meet the inmates only at the reception area. The phone numbers of wardens should be displayed in the front hall of the hostels,” she said in the release.
Jayalalithaa said care should be taken in screening the wardens before hiring. They should be given ID cards. “A register of private hostels and homes should be maintained with the office of the district superintendent of police. Police officials should pay special attention towards the security of such places. Retired police officials and ex-servicemen must be deployed to verify the candidature of the wardens,” she said. She stressed that childline helpline 1098 should be publicised to report abuses immediately.
