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Runaway children caged, abused and abandoned.
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ObserverVolume 14 | Issue 6 Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The Weekly
At least 11 women are molested
in Bangalore every week.
Page 2
Runaway children caged, abused and abandoned
Children who ran away
from a government home
were being locked up
every day by staff.
At least 20 children at
the govt home developed a
skin allergy which wasn’t
cured despite taking medi-
cines. Aslam, 12, said, “I
have the infection for past
one month. The doctor
here gave some pills but it
didn’t help.” According to
Rahim, 10, “The infection
has spread to the entire
body of two other chil-
dren.”
Mohit, 12, said: “We are
not happy with the food.
We are given insufficient
rice and sambhar is watery.”
At least eight children
worked in the kitchen and
swept the courtyard. Prem,
14, said: “The kitchen staff
used to come and cook only
breakfast. Nowadays, they
don’t come.”
Prem added: “We are
supposed to speak to our
parents every Saturday, but
they don't allow us to call
them. Even if our parents
call us, they won’t let us at-
tend the call.”
Weekly Observer re-
porters visited the home
just days before the children
ran away.
They revealed incidents
like the children being
locked up after lunch till 4
PM, to reduce responsibility
of the staff.
Mani, 15, an inmate for
the past four months, said:
“This happens so that we
won't run around in the
courtyard as it becomes dif-
ficult for them to handle
us.”
Mani said: “After the in-
cident in August when a 13-
year-old rescued child was
mercilessly beaten up using
rods by the caretaker for
not washing toilets, the
staff is very careful since
that caretaker was arrested.”
A parent said: “One
more child had tried escap-
ing on Sunday night but in-
jured himself after getting
caught in the fence. The
child said that they were liv-
ing without proper food,
drinking water and toilets.
The children are made to
clean toilets and are mis-
treated when they don’t
comply.”
On contacting Shakeela,
mother of one of the kids,
she said: “Raju left home to
work, about two years back.
He used to call us from
where he was working. But
for the past four months we
had not heard from him.”
According to the Wilson
Garden Police, efforts to
search for the runaways
were on-going but none of
the 18 children could be
traced since they ran away
on Sunday.
According to Guru-
murthy, 50, who is working
as an aid to provide foreign
education to the students at
the shelter home: “There
are six security guards as-
signed during the night. But
instead of doing their duty,
they go to their quarters.”
(Continued on page 3)
Children at Government Shelter Home for Boys
Shruti Suresh
Bureaucratic games keep
villagers without ration cards
Page 3
Stolen bikes cause Namma Metro
scheme to hit the skids
Page 4
The Weekly Observer Tuesday, September 16, 20142
Deadline extended for CCTV installation in schools
Schools have been given
an extended deadline of
two months to install
CCTV cameras.
In the recent meeting
held with the Commis-
sioner for Public Instruc-
tion, schools requested the
deadline be extended to the
next academic year as they
are falling short of funds.
Mohammad Mohsin,
Commissioner for Public
Instruction, said, “In the
meeting, we have told
schools to implement the
other guidelines in 15 days,
but for installing CCTV
cameras we have extended
it to two months.”
He said: “If we keep ex-
tending deadlines, there
will be no seriousness left.
This is a grave matter, and
the Vibgyor High rape case
is not the only reason be-
hind it. There have been in-
cidents after that as well like
the Anekal rape case, the
HSR layout case where a
10-year-old girl was raped.
“I had a meeting with
the group of schools that
have gone to the High
Court and told them that
they have to do it not only
for the safety of children,
but also for the manage-
ment. At least it will be eas-
ier to find out who is
responsible for a certain in-
cident if there is a CCTV
camera,” he added.
Mr. Nagesh, a CCTV
camera dealer in Bangalore,
said that the cost of in-
stalling approximately 50
cameras in a school would
cost about 5 lakhs.
“We pay an annual fee
of about 1.2 lakhs. There
should be cameras installed
in schools,” said Rohan
Daniel, brother of Rahool
Daniel, who studies in
Amaatra Academy.
Veena Murthy, mother
of Ninad Murthy who stud-
ies in the 10th standard of
National Hill View Public
School, said that his annual
fee is 1.3 lakhs. “The
amount needed to install
cameras is equivalent to the
fees of a couple of stu-
dents. It is a one-time in-
vestment, schools should
do it,” she added. Ninad
said that the school has 2-3
cameras.
According to the State
Crime Records Bureau, 111
cases under the Protection
of Children from Sexual
Offences (POCSO) Act
have been registered this
year till August, out of
which 33 cases have been
registered in the month of
August itself, like the rape
case of the 9-year-old blind
girl in a government school
and the 65-year old shop
owner raping a 10-year-old
differently-able girl.
S.R.S. Nadhan, Senior
Assistant Director and Pri-
vate Secretary of Commis-
sioner for Public
Instruction, said:"In the
meeting held on Sept 3 with
the Commissioner for Pub-
lic Instruction and the de-
partments, schools put
forth the problem of finan-
cial constraints and said that
they need some time to in-
stall CCTV cameras. They
want the deadline to be ex-
tended to the next academic
year."
He said: “Maybe they
want to do this in order to
include the expenditure in
their fee structure. We can-
not allow such an extension,
and so we have given them
two months’ time for the
same.”
Most of the schools like
St. Joseph’s Indian High
School and Sophia High
School have adhered to
having the Five Member
Safety Committee set up, as
asked by the government.
V. Ramesh, Block Edu-
cation Officer, North
Block, said: “We have 508
schools in our block, and al-
most all of them have
formed the committee.
“They have to give us
follow-up reports once in
15 days.”
At least 11 women molested in Bangalore every seven days
Bangalore’s City Crime
Records Bureau (CCRB)
records show that 372
molestation cases were
registered between Janu-
ary and August 2014.
Even with two all-
women police stations and
increased police patrolling,
crime rates in the city seem
surprisingly unaffected.
Barnali Moitra, a 29-year-
old IT professional living
in Electronic City, said:
“The presence of women
police makes no difference
to these men. They still
keep cat-calling. They take
advantage of the fact that
most of us migrant women
do not know Kannada.”
It was only last month
when a 34-year-old mother
lodged a complaint about
being molested by four
drunkards in front of her
12-year-old child on a well-
lit road in Rajajinagar.
In 2013, there were 578
instances reported while in
2012, there were 321. The
records also revealed that
41 cases of sexual harass-
ment against women were
reported this year while 77
were registered in 2013 and
53 in 2012.
Deputy Commissioner
of Police (Crime), Ab-
hishek Goyal, said, “The
numbers recorded by
CCRB cannot be consid-
ered as set in stone as cases
involving women are not al-
ways reported,” indicating
that more such incidents
might be taking place.
The city authorities
seem to have turned a blind
eye. Only last month, the
Namma Metro refused to
implement exclusive
coaches for women despite
two molestation incidents
taking place inside the
metro.
Earlier this month, a
traffic sub-inspector was
suspended after allegedly
misbehaving with two fe-
male motorists.
N. K. Narasimha Iyen-gar, the Assistant Commis-
sioner of Police, Vijaynagar
Sub-Division office, saidthat it is difficult to trace
such offenders because
most of the victims are left
in a state of shock.
Saheli Sen Gupta
Samreen Tungekar
Mohammad Mohsin, Commissioner, Public Instruction
The Weekly Observer Tuesday, September 16, 20143
Bureaucratic games leave villagers without ration cards
The residents of villages
in rural Bangalore have to
face huge delays and can-
cellations of their ration
cards.
Ration cards are used by
the poor to buy food and
fuel at subsidized prices and
are also an important iden-
tity proof for them.
Bhagya, a resident of
Devagere village, said she
had to wait about a year to
get her card. Sajid, another
resident of Devagere, said
he had to wait for four
months to get his card. He
said, “When we ask the of-
ficials the reasons for the
delays, they give random
reasons which do not make
sense.”
Baby Fatima, a residentof Thagachaguppe village,
had submitted the required
documents and information
to a panchayat member of
the village over six months
back. She, along with many
other families of the village,
is still waiting for her ration
card. “Kitty Anna took all
our details long back, but
still the card hasn’t come,”
she said.
Kitty Anna alias Krish-
namurthy, a member of the
village panchayat, said: “We
collect the documents and
information from the vil-
lagers and submit them to
the authorities. Many appli-
cations are rejected without
specifying the reason, while
even the accepted ones ar-
rive only after huge delays.”
He showed a document
which had details of 109 vil-
lagers who are still waiting
for their cards.
Krishnamurthy also de-
scribed another incident last
year, in which the validity
of the ration cards of about
150 villagers were cancelled
after they had used them for
a few months. The authori-
ties did not provide reasons
for this. Villagers had re-
ceived their cards and had
even used them for a few
months, when suddenly
authorities revoked the va-
lidity of the cards, providing
no reasons whatsoever.
He talked about another
problem that stems from
this issue. Bhagyalakshmi
Yojana is a government
scheme that is applicable
to villagers with infants.
The scheme requires the
infant to be below a year
old, and also requires her to
have a ration card. Due to
the delay in issuing the card,
these families lose out on
nearly Rs. 1 lakh. He said, “
The authorities only accept
the ration card and no other
identity proof.”
Somashekhar, a leader of
the Janata Dal Party in the
same village, said, “When
poor people have to manage
without ration card for even
one or two months, it is a
tough ordeal for their fami-
lies.”
When Mr. Purshottam,
the office manager at the
Food and Civil Supplies
Ministry at Kandaya Bha-
van, was asked about these
issues, he said that all the
applications were rejected
for valid reasons. He said,
“These could either be in-
sufficient information, or
mismatching of the
thumbprint.”
Tushar Kaushik
Krishnamurthy, Panchayat member of Gollahalli
(Continued from page 1)
When asked about the chil-
dren who ran away, a mem-
ber of the Child Welfare
Committee declined to
comment on the runaways
and said, “The children ran
away because of an emo-
tional issue, there is no
problem with food and
water. The food has im-
proved over time and chil-
dren are treated properly.”
A week before the juveniles
ran away, superintendent
Lakshmi Narsihmayya said:
“The building can hold only
200, but we can manage up
to 300 children. We face a
shortage of staff. It is easy
for staff to quit their jobs;
it takes time to appoint new
members.”
“An enquiry is going on
about the same. We are
working on the case. The
Integrated Child Develop-
ment Scheme (ICDS) proj-
ect director has visited the
home and a report will be
submitted to us by today
evening by Deputy Diec-
tors,” said Amita Prasad,
the Principal Secretary,
Women & Child Develop-
ment. (Names have been
changed to protect children.)
Children at the shelter home suffering from skin infection
Shruti Suresh
The Weekly Observer Tuesday, September 16, 20144
OBSERVER Team: Editor - Soumya Chatterjee, Chief Sub Editor - Shruti Suresh, News Editor - Ridhi Agrawal, News Desk - Sharangee Dutta,
Sub Editors -Samreen Tungekar, Sameer Deshpande, Shalini Raja, Design Head -Tushar Kaushik, Design Desk - Sreemoyee Chatterjee, Raya
Ghosh, Suharika Rachavelpula, Picture Editor - Vignesh S.G. Reporters -Subhas Arvind, Proofreaders - Saheli Sen Gupta, C.L. Ramakrishnan.
Schools provide free education to mentally challenged children
Schools in Bangalore give
a new ray of hope to 150
autistic and mentally
challenged kids by pro-
viding them with free ed-
ucation.
Sushma , an 8-year-old
autistic student, said: “I know
to count one to 100. I know
that roses are red and the
sky is blue.”
Her mother, Jayamma,
32, said: “One year ago, I
never expected my daughter
to learn numbers and com-
pare colors. Doctors could
do nothing other than leav-
ing my husband and me in
despair.”
Rachna, 12, had been
mentally unstable since a
car accident which injured
her brain severely six years
ago. Despite her life being
saved, she eventually lost
her mental and emotional
balance.
Bharadwaj Menon, 46,
her father, said, “My daugh-
ter became too ferocious
and at times she would get
out of control. She would
break things and hurt others
till she was admitted to
Spurthi Residential School.
We are extremely grateful
to the teachers who have
given my child a new life.”
According to Mental
Health Care Survey Report,
2013, Karnataka has
26,36,695 moderately men-
tally disabled children out
of 5,27,33,958 total children
in the state.
Spurthi Residential
School provides free edu-
cation and proper medica-
tion to 75 moderately men-
tally disabled children at
Mandur in East Bangalore.
Another 75 of them are
catered to in residential
schools set up at Hassan
District and Yelahanka.
Ramesh, the General Sec-
retary of Vidyaranya said:
“We receive 80 -100 appli-
cations every year. We admit
them on the basis of medical
camps conducted to test
their IQ with the help of
local municipal bodies and
children helpline units.”
We train these children
on daily living skills and pro-
vide them with pre-primary,
primary and vocational train-
ings.”
Rachikana, the expert
dealing with this project said,
“Our school has ten trained
teachers, five nurses and one
security guard. They are spe-
cially trained to handle these
children. In addition to this,
we have a part time doctor,
a part time psychologist and
a yoga teacher.
She said: “The education
that these kids receive is
completely free of cost. As
normal children of 4 to 16
years have got the Right to
Education (RTE) under In-
dian Constitution, how can
we deny the same right to
these children just because
they are mentally chal-
lenged?”
The school is recognized
by the Department of Em-
powerment of Differently
Abled and Welfare of the
Senior Citizens, Bangalore,
and Government of Kar-
nataka. Dr. Satish Babu said,
“For normal growth and
development, nutritional
needs of a child at his/her
particular age should be con-
sidered first and then re-
quired modifications in the
diet chart should be made
as per the illness or handi-
capping conditions.”
Rachikana said, “We pro-
vide all of these children
with proper nutrition, based
on doctor prescribed diet
chart for each one of them.”
Sreemoyee Chatterjee
The mentally challenged children in the school
Stolen bikes cause Namma Metro scheme to hit the skids
A bike scheme costing 1.5
crores is not being used
and bikes have been
stolen, vandalized and
lost.
There are 70 bikes in the
ATCAG scheme that are
accessible via swipe cards
outside metro stations, but,
they are not in usable con-
dition in the Byappanahalli,
Swami Vivekananda and In-
diranagar stations.
The bicycle stand in
Byappanahalli, one of the
terminals of Namma Metro,
had all the cycles locked at
4 p.m.
“The bikes have never
been used ever since
ATCAG, or the Automated
Tracking and Control of
Green Assets, collaborated
with Namma Metro in 2012.
Two bikes have been mis-
placed after they started with
the service,” said Shashi, a
security guard at the Byap-
panahalli metro station.
Cheejish, a customer care
superintendent of Namma
Metro, said that none of
the metro commuters use
bikes.
The bicycle stand at Swa-
mi Vivekananda stop had
five bicycles missing. Sunil
Kumar, a guard, said that
they had been missing for
over eight days now. “The
stand in Indiranagar was
completely vandalized
overnight on September 6,
which caused damages of
over Rs. 10 lakhs. The mis-
creants used a crowbar to
jack the lock holes, but were
unsuccessful. Thankfully, the
bikes did not get stolen but
the device had to bear the
brunt”, said Sathiya, an
ATCAG technician.
The bicycle stand in MG
Rd is the one most com-
monly used. Rakesh, a daily
bike user, said, “I use the
bikes frequently, however,
people have a habit of not
parking them back properly
in time that makes this fa-
cility inaccessible a lot of
times.”
Srinidhi, the manager of
ATCAG, said: “Users and
their statistics are tracked.
So, in case they park it in
malls or nearby areas and
try locking it themselves, we
get to know. Dock stations
have alarms that set off if
anyone tries to take them
without swiping a card. Even
if the bikes are stolen, we
have theft insurance. And
before issuing cards we take
the customers’ details. I do
not believe the 5 cycles are
stolen, but we will find them
soon.”
“The bike commuters
from Byappanahalli are usu-
ally cycling enthusiasts who
go for a ride in the morning
or evening. So these guards
do not know exactly what
happens with the bikes, so
they think they are always
locked”, Sathiya said.
Bicylces parked at S.V. Road Metro Station
Shalini Raja