FIR Against Harsh Mander Run Children's Homes Over Cruelty And Abuse Allegations

Delhi Police has registered a case against two children homes run by activist Harsh Mander's NGO under the Juvenile Justice law over alleged cruelty and abuse.

The case has been registered after a complaint by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

The two children homes - Umeed Aman Ghar and Khushi Rainbow Home - have been set up by the Centre for Equity Studies (CSE), which is run by trustee member Harsh Mander.

Mader was the member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) during the UPA-era.

According to police, a case under Sections 75 (cruelty to childrean and 83(2) (using children for illegal activities) of the Juvenile Justice Act along with Indian Penal Code Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) has been registered against the two children homes on Tuesday (2 February) at Mehrauli police station on the complaint of the registrar of NCPCR.

“The case has been registered on the basis of an inspection by teams of NCPCR in October 2020 in these homes,” Atul Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Delhi, said in a statement, reports The Print.

In the report, the commission alleged that during inspection, it found that four-five girls of the children homes were made to sit-in during the protest against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019-20.

The report further alleged that a boy staying in Ummeed Aman Ghar was told that "the government only works for Hindus and keeps fighting in Pakistan”.

“Such usage of children is illegal and prima facie a violation of Section 83(2) of JJ Act, 2015,” the commission said in its report.

It also accused the homes of stuffing 8-10 children in small cabins, and not maintaining social distancing norms during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The commission, in its report, also alleged that the children homes and its governing NGO have not dealt with cases of sexual violations. The report listed three such incidents from 2012, 2013 and 2016, which it claimed to have not been dealt with adequately.

The child rights body said the homes had claimed during inspection that there have been no cases of sexual offences, but it found that such cases had taken place in these years.