Kerala: Child Welfare Committee asks abusive home to shut

Kochi: Two days after cops launched a probe against an orphanage at Ponnurunni for alleged abuse and assault of inmates, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Monday recorded the statements of all 24 children and directed the management to close down the institution on March 31 if it failed to get itself registered under the Juvenile Justice Act.  Interestingly, the orphanage has refused to get registered. Since, most of the children hail from poor families, the CWC will make arrangements for shifting them to other hostels and institutions run by the government in the next academic year.

On Saturday, the Kadavantra Police lodged a case under the JJ Act against the matron and another employee of Christ King Convent Home after the student inmates, aged between six and 15, held a protest before the orphanage on Friday night against ill-treatment. Passersby then informed the cops.

“During the probe, we found that the orphanage was not registered under the JJ Act as required. When directed to do so, the authorities refused and agreed to close down the orphanage. However, we asked them to continue till the end of this academic year as, otherwise, it would affect the studies of the inmates,” CWC Ernakulam Chairperson Padmaja Nair said.

Earlier, the CWC officials recorded the statement of all 24 inmates of the orphanage. “The inmates are willing to continue in the convent home if two of the accused in-charge nuns are shifted out of there. The management has agreed to do so. Also we have made them submit a written undertaking not to subject the children to any further ill-treatment. We will also make an arrangement for continuous monitoring,” the CWC official said.