Chandru panel seeks juvenile home overhaul

In a significant development, the Justice K. Chandru Committee has advocated for a comprehensive transformation of government homes for children in conflict with the law (CCL) in Tamil Nadu. The committee’s recommendations, submitted to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, propose the demolition of existing structures and the construction of new facilities designed to avoid resembling prisons or jails. One key recommendation addresses the recruitment practices within these facilities. The committee emphasizes the necessity to cease the preferential treatment given to ex-inmates in the hiring of guards, security personnel, and gatekeepers. Instead, it insists on recruiting qualified individuals through established rules and a notified agency. Justice Chandru highlighted that over the past six years, 176 ex-inmates have been appointed to these roles, raising concerns, as 47 cases of inmate escapes have been recorded in the last decade. The report sheds light on troubling conditions within the existing facilities. Inmates are reportedly being served through iron bars, and there are instances of teachers and students being separated by these barriers. The committee also expressed concern over cases of suicides within these institutions. To streamline the administration of government homes for CCL, the committee proposes the establishment of an exclusive board under the Social Welfare Department. Additionally, it recommends the creation of a new directorate dedicated to overseeing child care institutions (CCIs) for CCL, achieved by bifurcating the existing Directorate of Social Defence. The genesis of the committee’s formation lies in the mysterious death of a 17-year-old male inmate at the Government Observation Home in Chengalpattu in December 2022.