The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday issued notice to Kerala government after nine girls went missing from a shelter home in Manganam near Kottayam.
The nine girls were later traced by the police at the home of one of the inmates a few hours later, where they resisted their return to the shelter home, reported The New Indian Express.
The missing girls, including child sex abuse complainants, stay at a shelter home run by an non-governmental organisation named Mahila Samakhya on the directions of the Child Welfare Committee.
The NHRC in its notice said that this is the third such incident reported from Kottyam in recent months.
“It appears that there is a lack of supervision and effective monitoring of the shelter home, run by an NGO, Mahila Samakhya,” the human rights body said.
It added: “Despite this, it is accredited by the Social Justice Department and the Child Welfare Committee. It seems that the inmates are not satisfied or happy with their stay in this shelter home. There is a prima facie possibility of some kind of inhuman and undignified treatment being meted out to these girls forcing them to leave it.”
The human rights organisation has asked the Kerala chief secretary to submit a report on the incident along with the action taken report.
IT has asked the state to explain in its report the reasons for the “dissatisfaction and disillusionment” of the missing girls with their stay and whether there was any involvement of a public servant from the Department of Social Justice or Child Welfare Committee to enable their escape.
The human rights body has also sought a response from the director general of police regarding the status of the case registered for missing girls from Manganam in Kottayam and arrests made if any.
“The report must also contain the status of the implementation of the standard operating procedure for Combating Trafficking of Persons in India, issued by the Commission in the year 2017 to prevent trafficking within the State of the vulnerable sections of society,” it said.
The NHRC has asked it’s Special Rapporteur Hari Sena Verma to visit Kottayam and submit within two months a report, including the facts related to the instant case also. He is also expected to suggest measures to avoid such incidents in the future.
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