RANCHI: The recent expose of a child-sale racket at the Missionaries of Charity-run Nirmal Hriday in Ranchi and a sex racket at a shelter home in Muzzafarpur, Bihar , has raised concerns about the activities going on behind closed doors in women and child shelters across the country. In a unique attempt to reach out to unknown victims, state authorities have decided to engage women students for assessing the situation in such facilities across the district.Students of Ranchi Women's College will help the district administration review all government-run homes for girls, children and women, residential schools for children - including Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and Eklavya Vidyalayas. The district administration is all set for a voluntary audit of all such institutions in the capital to understand the 'experience' of their inmates to dig out cases of cruelty, neglect or any kind of abuse.Talking to TOI, Ranchi deputy commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray said: "The plan is to review the living conditions of female students, women inmates and children living in all the government-aided facilities. Instead of reviewing the infrastructure , which could be an eyewash, our focus will be on the conditions and treatment the inmates face on a daily basis. We are trying to dig deeper into the status of all such hostels, homes and shelters."Around 35 students from both undergraduate and postgraduate levels from Ranchi Women's College will be educated about women and child rights before they are sent for on-field inspection. "We will be providing sensitivity training to the students first. Official visits are often very formal and, in case of any complaint, the victims don't feel comfortable enough to speak up. We are trying to solve that issue by using college students to talk with the inmates and gather information from them," Rai added.The district administration will expand the audit to privately run hostels and paying guest accommodations for women across Ranchi in the second phase. "Setting up helplines and calling for complaints aren't effective in cases where victims are too scared to speak up. If there is a complaint with the police information system, it will be followed up immediately. But our goal is to communicate with the inmates of these facilities and verify if there are any irregularities that have been overlooked," he added.

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