In a second incident this year at the same facility, 17 juvenile offenders broke open a grill gate, climbed the boundary wall and fled from the correctional home at Kellys in Chennai on Monday.
Police say that the juveniles were going for breakfast when the boys escaped and while some of them attacked one staff member, others opened the gate with stones and iron rods from unused grills and ran into the Purasawakam High Road.
The main reason for the incident was shortage of manpower at the home, said police.
Suresh, the watchman had gone to supervise campus cleaning at 8:10 am when the group of juveniles ran away from the home.
One of the offenders faces murder charges.
Two of the juveniles were arrested on their way home. Most of the offenders hail from Chennai and while some are from the Tiruvallur district.
According to The New Indian Express, D Sankaran, ACP, Ayanavaram said, “We have alerted police stations where cases are pending against the juveniles. We have asked the parents to coorperate too, if they reached home to meet them.”
The CCTV cameras were also not working for the past few weeks.
In July, 14 juveniles fled the home after tricking the warden into opening the gate. They attacked him and damaged a TV before fleeing. A special team caught 10 juveniles after their pictures were sent to all the police stations, rest were caught when they were entering a theatre in Ekkattuthangal.
In 2008, the Comptroller and Auditor General had said that juvenile homes and other child care institutions run by Government and NGOs in Tamil Nadu do not follow proper acts and rules. This leads to lack of care, protection and welfare of the children.
According to The New Indian Express, A Narayanan, a social activist said “Most juveniles who come to the home are substance addicts. They need to be provided proper rehabilitation, which is not available in the system now.”
In 2011, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development in the Juvenile Justice Rules were directed to refer juvenile addicts to Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts or a state-run institution.