Pradeep Gautam, head of the juvenile correctional home, said that due to lack of space, the children had to sleep on the floor when they had to be housed in triple the number.
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The juvenile correctional home in Makawanpur has three times more children than its capacity. Due to lack of physical infrastructure, it has had to accommodate more children than its capacity.
There are currently 92 children in the juvenile correctional home in Thanabharyang, Hetauda Sub-municipality-11. The capacity of the correctional home is only 30. Due to lack of space, the children had to sleep on the floor due to lack of space.
The juvenile correctional home, which houses children aged 14 to 23, has 65 accused in rape cases. Although it is said that children up to the age of 18 should be kept in the juvenile correctional home, Gautam said that there is a provision that those above the age of 18 should also be kept in the juvenile correctional home while serving their sentence because they are involved in criminal incidents when they are children.
Due to the lack of physical infrastructure, children are also being deprived of education. The library in the reform home has not yet been operational due to lack of space. The building, built on 5 acres of land, is very narrow. There is also a lack of space for children to play. The children are forced to live in cramped rooms, said the reform home chief Gautam.
A children's reform home has been established here under the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens in Thanabharyang, Hetauda since 2075 BS. 'There is also a challenge of what level of teacher to bring to the children of different age groups who have been educated and how to arrange their studies according to their age and class. But the main problem is the lack of space,' said Chief Gautam.
The children's reform home, which was established to house only children from Chitwan and Makawanpur, currently has children from 28 districts. The future of the children in the reform home is becoming bleak as the ministry has not allocated budget for the construction of physical infrastructure, school operations, etc. An employee of the reform home said, ‘The ministry does not listen to the voices of the reform home. The district talukdar office of the children's reform home does not exist.’
According to the statistics as of Monday, there are 92 children in the Hetauda reform home, including 65 for rape, 11 for dereliction of duty, 9 for drug trafficking, 1 for theft, 1 for vehicle homicide, and 1 for criminal mischief.
If children commit crimes, there is a legal provision to keep them in the children's reform home for rehabilitation. The Bhimphedi Regional Jail provides 700 grams of rice and 80 rupees per person per day for the children in the reform home.
When the child is asked to appear before the court, it is difficult to make the child appear due to the lack of their own vehicle. The juvenile correctional home has been requesting vehicles from the District Police Office, Makawanpur, to bring children to court, the home said. There are juvenile correctional homes operating in places including Hetauda, Birgunj, Bhaktapur, Rupandehi, Doti, Biratnagar, Banke and Pokhara.
