Brutalised, deprived, locked up: Justice Chandru’s scathing report on TN juvenile homes
A report prepared by retired judge K Chandru has lambasted the horrific conditions in state-run homes in Tamil Nadu for children in conflict with law (CCL). The prevailing conditions in the 13 homes meant to rehabilitate the children, usually teenagers, are so terrible that Justice K Chandru calls one home, a ‘house of horror’. Children, according to the report, are routinely subjected to violence inside the homes, live in unsanitary conditions, are locked indoors and barely get sufficient food. Suicides have also been reported from the homes. The judge’s report also mentions that the teens do not have consistent access to counsellors.
Justice Chandru was appointed in April 2023, to look into the conditions of these homes and recommend measures for the effective functioning and administration of homes as per the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The report was submitted to the TN government on November 14. TNM went through the 495-page-long report, which details the prevailing conditions at the homes and recommends improving the infrastructure of homes, inmate management and overall monitoring.
Children in conflict with the law often end up in one of these three facilities – Government Observation Homes (GOH), Government Special Homes (GSP), and Government Places of Safety (GPS). Across the state, Tamil Nadu has 13 such homes in various districts. Among the 13, the one located at Chengalpattu is considered one of the important homes in the state as it is a combined facility of GOH, GSP, and GPS.
In December 2022, 17-year-old Gokul Sree was beaten to death in the Chengalpattu facility. Gokul, a resident of West Kannadapalayam in Tambaram, was arrested on December 29 for allegedly trying to steal some batteries from the Railways. He was handed over to the Chengalpattu home and was reported dead on December 31. After Gokul’s mother lodged a complaint about the circumstances of his death, an investigation concluded that it was a case of custodial death, and six staff members were arrested.
It was this killing that led to the formation of the one-man committee and Justice Chandru was asked to look into the working of homes under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (JJ Act) in Tamil Nadu and suggest ways to improve their efficiency. Chandru visited 13 homes in 10 districts that were set up for the children who committed crimes ranging from petty to serious offences. The list of people he spoke to include children, psychologists, police, collectors and judicial officers.
Parents not informed of the arrest
The infractions detected by Justice Chandru are numerous. At the outset, the report mentions that the parents or guardians of the children are not informed about the arrests and if the parents do get to know about it, they are not provided with a copy of the First Information Report (FIR). Further, if the children are non-Tamilians, they are also not informed about the charges against them.
This is a direct violation of section 13 (a) of the JJ Act that specifies that parents or guardians must be informed by the arresting officers or the special juvenile police unit and also direct them to be present at the Board before which the juvenile appears. Contrary to these instructions, no acknowledgement or written document about taking the children into the custody of the homes is given to the families or guardians. Acknowledgement is given to the Child Protection Officer (PO), but families do not receive them. In most instances, the CCLs do not get a copy of the FIR until they approach the JJ Board for pressing reasons like obtaining a passport.
Once children are sent to these homes, they are found to be forced to stay indoors, without air, light, and ventilation, for most of the time. With a minimum ration being allocated for their limited menu options, they barely get sufficient food and nutrition. The CCLs live in unsanitary conditions amidst unclean toilets and a mosquito menace. The report also reveals that the children were able to access drugs and make sharp objects inside the homes to attack others while escaping and engaging in scuffles with first-time offenders. In 2023, alone, 32 boys escaped from six homes. The Chengalpattu home reported three deaths, including that of Gokul Shree. The other two were determined as accidental deaths. In Cuddalore home, a 17-year-old boy died by suicide a day after he was sent there. He was booked under the POCSO Act for being in a relationship with a Dalit girl.
No age, crime-based segregation in the homes
During his visits, Justice Chandru found no segregation among the CCLs based on the crimes they are accused of, their age, the nature of the offence, or the number of times a CCL committed offences. He says the environment inside the campus enables first-time offenders to become repeat offenders throughout their time in the facilities.
In GOH in Coimbatore, the first-time offenders told Chandru they were physically abused, bullied, and tortured by habitual offenders. Despite the act being caught on cameras placed inside the homes, no action has been taken against the attackers.
The report also highlighted an observation made by a student volunteer from the Institute of Social Science, Madurai, about no segregation in the homes. After visiting an Observation Home in Madurai, which accommodated both first-time offenders and repeat offenders in the same room, the student volunteer said, “Repeat offenders befriend first time offenders and encourage them by telling them what they are doing like theft or murder, and make them involved in the crime again. First-time offenders are easily attracted by the repeat offenders because they want to become famous.”
Read: TN: Justice Chandru committee on JJ Act recommends major changes in juvenile homes
Besides Madurai, the homes in Chennai and Vellore also place first-time offenders with habitual offenders. The volunteer also highlighted the brutal attacks on the CCLs by the home authorities in the Madurai facility. The staff had beaten up CCLs who did not obey their teachers or other staff. “The staff beat the children brutally because they are of the mindset that adiyatha maadu paniyadhu, [a Tamil adage which roughly means that a cow that does not get beaten up would never become a submissive],” the report pointedly notes.
Incidentally, many of the guards posted at the homes are former inmates. These guards were found to instigate inmates often leading to violent clashes between gangs formed inside the homes. “Deployment of ex-inmates and staff on compassionate grounds leads to aggravating the maintenance of the order in the home. The guards themselves motivate kids in a communal angle and make them protest against the staff for their vested interests. Smuggling drugs inside with the knowledge of the guard has been identified,” said a note sent to Justice Chandru by Chengalpattu police when he inspected the facility in the district. Numerous instances of inmates escaping have been reported and police suspect the connivance of guards.
There is no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for police about inquiries related to clashes and escapes occurring in the facilities. Chandru mentions that there was no communication between the district administration and the Chengalpattu Special Home until the death of Gokul Sree. This trend can be seen in other homes too, he says.
Inhumane conditions inside the dormitories
The dormitories in the homes lack air, light, and good ventilation. In Chennai, the home on Kelly’s Road does not have doors for its toilets and bathrooms. Chandru calls the Coimbatore home a “house of horror” which has three prison cells with one open toilet each inside the cells. The toilets are constructed about four feet above the floor and lack buckets and mugs. There is no light or ventilation inside these cells.
The CCLs who spoke to Chandru said they experienced stress and depression as they were cooped up in the same place all day long, and they would love to walk outside their dormitories. The CCLs are not even provided with underwear in many homes and have to wait for their parents’ visit to get underwear. In several homes, the authorities distribute underwear once every three months. Till then, the teens serve their time at the centres without underwear. In Salem, CCLs are given only a pair of underwear each and allowed to take only open-air baths.
Lack of mental health help to CCLs
Rehabilitation measures inside the homes mandate informal education, vocational training, a de-addiction centre, and counselling. However, homes in Tamil Nadu are not keen to put effort towards it. Without consistent access to counsellors or even a schedule, inmates are subjected to random counselling sessions by different therapists leaving them confused. Psychologists complain about a lack of infrastructure facilities and being overworked and underpaid. The report notes that a psychologist attached to Chengalpattu visits 23 homes, while a Madurai psychologist visits 21 homes. As the Madurai home does not have any visiting psychiatrists from the government hospital, the authorities in the home have to obtain orders from the JJ Board every single time a child needs to be taken to the hospital for a consultation.
The lack of coordination between district government hospitals and homes in Cuddalore and Vellore has led to children being taken to Chennai for the preliminary assessment, citing that there are no experts in the district. In addition, insufficient infrastructure and outdated techniques further prevent the children from being counselled.
A psychologist who visits the Chennai facility says there is no private room for the counsellor to speak to the CCLs. No computer is provided to update the status of the inmates. The female counsellor says the staff refused to assist her and also did not allow her to use the restroom.
While discussing the mental health status of CCLs, Chandru reiterates that the children’s families should also be provided counselling. “Counselling the child without counselling the family (on how to deal with social stigma, how to engage with their child who has committed a crime) will not be beneficial in the short and long term,” he notes.
He also says there are no protocols to define the role of mental health practitioners and calls techniques like Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and psychometric tests outdated. CCLs have been assessed without considering the context of the crimes and the trauma faced by them.
The report notes that multiple counsellors, including a psychologist, counselled the CCL without coordinating with each other. No proper documentation of the counselling sessions or the mental health of the CCL could be found in any of the homes. “The existing mental health services offered to the CCLs most probably will cause more harm than assisting them. There is no accountability or overseeing of how mental health services are offered and whether it benefits the child in concern,” the report says.
However, a few counsellors came forward to provide sex education to the CCLs. In the Tirunelveli home facility, a counsellor addressed inmates’ doubts about masturbation. In Coimbatore home, a counsellor discussed with inmates about practising safe sex after he found out about the consensual relationship between two inmates.
Commercial movies over newspapers
In all the homes, inmates can watch commercial movies, but are not allowed to read newspapers. Inmates in Chengalpattu, Vellore, Chennai, Cuddalore, and Madurai homes are not allowed to read newspapers. During his visit to the Vellore facility, Chandru was told by one staff member that the inmates who read about the heinous crimes in the newspaper would follow the pattern once they were out.
Ironically, the boys watched movies like Vikram, Master, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Vada Chennai (which are known for their violent scenes). The inmates told Chandru that they like to watch hero-oriented movies that involve gang fights and violence. “Watching movies involving violence will have a larger impact than reading about heinous crimes from the newspaper. It will need a lot of mind application about a crime and follow it. That is not the case with movies. It is easy to imitate what is seen on the screens,” Justice Chandru observes.
Talking about extracurricular activities, Chandru notes that resources are not properly utilised. The mini-indoor sports centre that was inaugurated by Coimbatore Collector Kranti Kumar Pati, in March 2023, is yet to be opened to inmates. CCLs are almost always restricted from outdoor activities fearing they would escape from the facility.
Even vocational courses like home appliance service, mobile repairing courses, drawing, typewriting, and fast food cooking do not create any impact on teens as they rarely stay for more than a month. The CCLs are often students from Class 8 to 12. There are no specific measures to conduct bridge classes and the CCLs do not show any interest in studying further. The vocational courses are utter failures as they remain mostly on paper and in the scant cases where they function, the CCLs obtain bail before they learn anything.