A current examine by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on the tutorial standing of the youngsters of ladies prisoners has flagged cases of the Bible being taught to those that aren’t Christian.
It cites the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, to lift this as a difficulty. “The Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 defined these children as ‘Children in need of Care and Protection’ and makes it binding on the State machinery to ensure that these children do not fall prey to institutions which not only compromises with their safety and security but denies them the right to preserve identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognised by the law without unlawful interference (UNCRC),” the report states.
The report relies on 144 responses acquired from ladies prisoners, their youngsters, heads of youngsters’s houses and hostels, heads of colleges and jail officers. The examine coated eight prisons meant for ladies in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra.
Under the part that lists out issues recognized by the NCPCR crew throughout their go to to the jails, the report factors out the instance of a jail for convicted ladies in Lucknow that has permitted an NGO to show the Bible to the youngsters dwelling there.
In one other instance, the report speaks of a shock go to to a youngsters’s dwelling in Ghaziabad the place youngsters of ladies prisoners keep. At the Asha Deep Foundation, the report states, it was discovered that youngsters had been being taught spiritual teachings of a selected faith apart from one practiced by the youngsters. “The Commission conducted a surprise visit and retrieved around 26 Bibles from the lockers and rooms of the non-Christian children.”
Blaming the authorities, the report mentioned, “Thus, it is a gross negligence on the part of state machinery who fail to bear the responsibility towards these children, eventually provide access to these vulnerable children and further perpetuate their vested interests.”
However, Reverend H Okay Chetty, a board member of the Asha Deep Foundation, informed The Indian Express, “Yes, they conducted a visit about two years ago. The 26 Bibles they claim they found in the lockers and rooms of children were actually collected from the lockers and rooms of our staff. If we were forcibly teaching the Bible to our children then they should have found one with all of them. Why only 26? Also, did they interact with the children or ask them if we were teaching them about Christianity? No. Asha Deep Foundation has been working with children since 1991. We haven’t forced any children to accept a particular religion.”
Among different issues flagged by the examine was the irregular conferences that youngsters dwelling in houses and hostels have with their moms in jail. “…60 per cent of women prisoners replied that the visits conducted between their children are often irregular because the children home/hostels where they are admitted are far from the place where they are currently lodged and often admitted to CCIs in different city… While 17 per cent prisoners said that their children visit them once in three months; 10 per cent stated that children visit them monthly and 13 per cent women said that they have never met their children,” the report states.
