Kottayam Shelter Homes Missing Girls Cases | NHRC Takes Suo Motu Cognisance, Kerala Gov Asked To File Action Taken Report

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken a suo moto cognizance of the media reports pertaining to the case of 9 girls who recently went missing from a shelter home at Manganam in Kottayam, Kerala. Though the girls were later on traced at the residence of one of the inmates by the Kerala police, however, the girls resisted their return back to the shelter home. This is 3rd such incident reported from Kottayam in recent months, the NHRC has noted.Taking into account such media reports, the NHRC has observed that there is a lack of supervision and effective monitoring of the shelter home, run by an NGO, Mahila Samakhya. The NHRC has also made a prima facie observation that the inmates are not satisfied or happy with their stay in this shelter home as there is a possibility of some kind of inhuman and undignified treatment being meted out to these girls forcing them to leave it.Observing thus, the Commission has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Kerala, calling for a report of the incident along with the action taken report. The Chief Secretary, Kerala has been asked to report to the NHRC whether there was any involvement of a public servant from the Department of Social Justice or Child Welfare Committee to enable the girls to run away from the shelter home. The report must explain the reasons for the dissatisfaction and disillusionment of the missing girls with their stay in the said shelter home, the NHRC has added.Further, a notice has also been issued to the Director General of Police, Kerala regarding the status of the case registered for missing girls from Manganam in Kottayam and arrest, if any. The report must also contain the status of the implementation of the SOP for Combating Trafficking of Persons in India, issued by the Commission in the year 2017 to prevent trafficking within the State of the vulnerable sections of society. The response has been sought from the officers within two weeks.Besides this, the Commission, considering that the incidents of missing girls happening repeatedly in Kottayam, has also asked its Special Rapporteur, Mr. Hari Sena Verma to visit Kottayam and submit within two months a report, including the facts related to the instant case also. He is also expected to suggest measures to avoid such incidents in the future."The Commission, over the years, has been consistently advocating that missing children, including the girls, may be the cause for trafficking to be exploited sexually or into slavery for forced labour at households, massage parlors, and spas: They may be subjected to illegal adoption or child marriage. That is why it issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Combating Trafficking of Persons in India in the year 2017 but it has observed that concerted efforts from all stakeholders need to be augmented to eradicate a social menace like human trafficking," a press release of the NHRC states.

Kottayam Shelter Homes Missing Girls Cases | NHRC Takes Suo Motu Cognisance, Kerala Gov Asked To File Action Taken Report

Sparsh Upadhyay

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