Summary:
This led to a commotion that was later resolved. He was impleaded in the court case pertaining to the condition of children’s homes in Kancheepuram and other parts of the state.Government sources said that police and CWC members, who accompanied the legal services authority team, faced backlash from staff of the home as children were narrating their woesl. CHENNAI: Two 15-year-old boys at a government home near Chengalpet have been booked for sexually abusing two juniors, aged 10 and 15, said police who filed an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012.The incident came to light on Wednesday during an inspection by a team of the State Legal Services Authority inspected the home, housing nine boys at a village near Chengalpet in Kancheepuram district, based on a direction from the Madras high court . Since Kancheepuram doesn’t have a permanent care and protection centre for boys, the victims were lodged in the facility near Chengalpet for a longer period.The nearest care and protection home is 90km away at Ranipet in Vellore district.Zaheeruddin Mohamad, former Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member, said the incident wouldn’t have come to light had the State Legal Services Authority team not inspected the place. The suspects had been abusing the younger ones behind locked doors for months and had threatened to thrash them if they informed others at the home, police said.The victims were immediately shifted to a different home, but it is not known if they were taken for medical examination or if counselling was provided prior to the shifting.Normally, children rescued from the streets or from beggary by the government’s childline committee or by volunteers of NGOs are accommodated in reception homes being shifted to child care centres run by the state social defence department..