Faridkot, February 17
Despite the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Conventions on the Rights of Child, about 30 juvenile offenders in the local observation home have been deprived of all civil and human rights. Living in inhuman conditions, they are treated in a cruel manner.

These juvenile offenders are kept behind bars and never allowed to come out of their rooms. They have not seen the sun and sky since they were put here.

These children do not have even jute mats to sit or sleep on. Many of them suffer from various diseases, including skin allergies, due to unhygienic living conditions.

Many inmates go barefoot and most do not have proper woollens despite the chilling winter.

These startling facts came to light when a seven-member team of the Judicial Accountability and Human Rights Promotion Organisation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), conducted an inquiry into the conditions of the observation home.

In its five-page report issued to The Tribune today, the NGO pointed out that these children had been put into two small rooms closed with iron bars and no electricity.

Earlier, an official used to visit it once a month, only to withdraw his monthly salary.

The report said although the committee could not taste the food being served to the inmates, from available indications it seemed that the food being served to the children was not of good quality. The shopkeeper, from whom the rations were purchased, had not received any payment for the past two years. His outstanding bill was about Rs 2 lakh. The milk vendor also had not received payment..

According to the provision of the Juvenile Justice Act, under which the observation homes were set up, the children were to be kept in separate rooms according to their age and the nature of offences committed. In the this home, all inmates, no matter what their offence, have been put together in the two rooms.

Mr Balwant Singh, Chairman of the organisation, said they had demanded that the observation home should be shifted to a suitable place, the inmates treated according to the law, given all the facilities and action should be taken against the officials concerned. He also demanded that the inmates, who had not been charged with any offence, should be released immediately.