The recent incidents of rampant physical and sexual abuse of minors and women in childcare institutions (CCIs) and shelter homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh reveal how the state as well as the civil society have failed in their role as protectors and watchdogs. This has happened despite the enactment of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act) and the existence of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

Failure of institutions:-

Lack of monitoring and absence of inspection committees have led to the current predicament.

All CCIs are required to be registered under the JJ Act and every district needs to have a child protection officer, a child welfare committee, and a juvenile justice board. However, in practice, their functioning has not been effective enough to prevent the widespread misuse of power and money by those running these institutions.

Home Management Committee:- This body has to conduct a meeting every month to ensure that all shelters in the district are being run according to the guidelines of the Juvenile Justice Act. These norms were clearly not followed .
Facts:-
An NCPCR survey has shown that only 32% of CCIs were registered under the JJ Act, while 33% were not registered with any authority.

Ministry failure:-

The Ministry of Women and Child Development, which provides funding to CCIs under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme, is duty-bound to carry out social audits in order to deter malpractices. However, either these institutions are allowed to function without any routine inspections
In the case of the Muzaffarpur CCI, inspections by multiple state agencies over the years find nothing amiss despite widespread abuse being present.

The District Inspection Committee is supposed to conduct a check on the shelters every three months. It is headed by the district magistrate and also has a member of the civil society on its board. Each of these bodies and members failed to detect what was happening at the shelter.
Action taken too late:-
Although the NCPCR has now been ordered to complete social audits of all CCIs and the state governments have ordered probes, this has come too late for the numerous lives traumatised by their very protectors.

Even the society failed :-

• By giving up their responsibility towards the underprivileged children.
• People have not created enough public pressure to force the institutions and the state to ameliorate the situation of such children
• A patriarchal mindset of the society which leads to not taking such children into confidence while formulating laws and devising mechanisms for their protection etc.

Way forward:-

1. To bring about a transformation in the conditions of vulnerable groups under state protection, it is essential that the primitive and patriarchal mindset which denigrates fellow human beings as unworthy of dignity and respect while perpetuating and reproducing violence against them needs to change.
2. More importantly, vulnerable groups need to be empowered by being treated as fully rights-bearing citizens and facilitated to playing an active role in addressing matters concerning them and their welfare.
3. The criminals running these institutions in the guise of protectors need to be weeded out of the systems of social protection and given due punishment, and systematic vetting of those running such shelters needs to be carried out, before basic human rights and a sense of self-worth can be restored among the multitudes condemned to live in these institutions.