Uttarakhand child welfare committees defunct, accused go scot free

DEHRADUN: Children's welfare committees in different districts of Uttarakhand are practically defunct, with some having members whose terms have ended, while others sans interpreters for child victims, leading to the accused in such crimes walking scot-free.

Chairman of state commission for protection of child rights (SCPCR), Ajay Setia criticized the state government for its apathy towards children and said its delay in appointing interpreters was hitting conviction in POCSO cases hard.

"In the absence of interpreters, many accused are able to go scot-free or get less quantum of punishment. It is the interpreter, usually a child psychologist or an NGO member, who helps minor victims gain confidence and share details of the sexual crime with the magistrate without any hesitation.

"But now, that is not happening. In a recent case where a girl was raped and impregnated by her teacher in Ghansali village of Tehri district, the case fell weak as the girl could not properly record her statement," he added.

Tehri SP Janmajay Khanduri said lack of interpreters for child victims was making it difficult to get their statements recorded. "The state does not have special interpreters for children deposing before the magistrate. We had to arrange a child psychologist from Dehradun in a recent case of POCSO," he said.

The SCPCR chairman said government agencies like the district administration or police are not well-versed with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO).

Slamming the state government for failing to reconstitute district child welfare committees (CWC) after the term expired in March last year, Setia also accused it of misleading him on formation of District Child Protection Units which were mandated as per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Women and Child Development three years ago.

"The department of social welfare is responsible for the formation of the DCPU. The officials misled me saying that DCPU has been formed, which was found incorrect in the documents. In reality, it is the district magistrates (DM) who have somehow been handling cases related to DCPU. Now, after I drew the attention of Chief Secretary over this, he issued notice to all the DMs to constitute DCPU soon," he said.

Haridwar DM Santhiyal Pandiyan admitted that there is no DCPU. "We have different committees related to children working in Haridwar but not the DCPU. It has not been formed yet."

On the role of CWC, Setia said the committees are formed to decide on individual cases of children whether to send them to children shelter homes or to call them back from these homes. Many related matters are also decided by the CWC which is not happening. The term of the CWC members have been extended but they are hardly holding meeting for three days in a week, he added.

When contacted, a CWC member, Sunil Bisht admitted that his term had ended a year ago. "However, we assemble at times to attend to matters of importance. Like recently, a child who was made to work as a bonded labourer in a building near Pirane Kaliyar was rescued by us some ten days ago," he said.

Setia said DCPU is tasked with formulating policies related to welfare of children in need and their implementation.

He added that the tenure of Juvenile Justice Board had also ended in March 2013. "Why the members of CWC or JJ Board are put on extension? The government should not push such matters of great importance under the carpet," he added