Inmates of children home run out due to mistreatment by secretary

IMPHAL, Feb 13: Three inmates of a children home run by Leprosy Patients’ Welfare Society (LEWS) located at Chingmeirong Lei-Ingkhol ran out of the home following mistreatment by the secretary of the management committee.
The incident happened some two months back but the matter came to light only after some child rights activists conducted investigation recently in this regard.
When a team of media-persons today met one of the inmates who ran out of the children home, the 12-year old boy Lemba (name changed) from Kongba was found to be in a disturbed state. The other two inmates are from Canchipur and Nagamapal.
Lemba lost both his parents four years back and he was staying in the LEWS Children Home for about one year. He has one younger brother who is staying at another children home in Imphal. 
Lemba narrated his ordeal at the children home with tearful eyes. He said that the secretary of the home, A. Tolen Meitei used the inmates as “bonded labourers” by making them carry bricks, sand and wood for his household purposes.
Tolen frequently canned those inmates who refused to work and he did not provide adequate food and clothes for them, he said.
Lemba stated that he along with two other inmates ran out of the home after the secretary severely canned them for no reason. He said that on that day he was asked by the secretary to call in some of his friends who were playing outside and he did what was asked to do. But, the secretary whipped three of them severely giving no reason. They decided to leave the home as they could no longer bear the torments and harassment given by the secretary.
There are about 30 inmates including three girls in the said home but these children are in pathetic condition with no proper food, clothes and even education, said a relative of Lemba.
He was admitted to the children home by depositing a sum of Rs 1000 with the hope that the unfortunate boy gets proper education and training so as to make him stand on his feet one day, but to their disappointment Lemba was kept in a deplorable environment, the relative lamented.
As per the rules of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child), the inmates of a children home should be given proper food, clothes, shelter, education along with recreation and medical facilities. The government gives regular grants-in-aid to the management committee for proper care and protection of the inmates of the home.
Moreover, the rules clearly states engagement of various staffs for running a children home with financial support from the government.
But, the LEWS Children Home seems to violate all these rules by not providing proper food, shelter and education to the inmates.
The city coordinator of Child Line Imphal, Th. Ibethoi stated that there have been reports of about seven inmates running out of LEWS Home before. The inmates of this home have been found in a pathetic condition devoid of all provisions mentioned by the rules of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child).
So far the concerned authority has not taken any action against the management committee. It will be a great loss for the society if the children homes which should shelter the destitute and orphaned children give harassment and violate the rules for the sake of earning money, she asserted.