ONLY PLIGHT, NO SUNLIGHT
CONFINED INDOORS
>> Throughout the day and throughout the period of their admission into the protection home
DARK AND DINGY
>> There is no exposure to open air or to sunlight
NO OUTDOOR ACTIVITY
>> Provisions for games completely missing
NO SEGREGATION
>> Residents who are not mentally or physically well are forced to share the same dormitory
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State has decided to accept the suggestions in the report, except one regarding shifting of the Protective Home to its earlier premises----------------------
NEXT HEARING
>> The High Court has listed the matter for directions on September 19
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THE HOME AT MERCES
>> It was set up under the provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act
>> Serves as a transit home for those victims for counselling and rehabilitation
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PANAJI: A High Court-appointed committee tasked with inspecting the living standards of the Protective Home for women rescued from immoral trafficking has, in a report submitted before the Bombay High Court at Goa, found that the rescued women are being kept in squalid conditions with “no exposure to open air or to sunlight.”
“Residents are presently confined indoors throughout the day and throughout the period of their admission into the protection home. There is no exposure to open air or to sunlight,” the report states adding that provisions for outdoor activity or games is completely missing.
The report which was presented before the High Court also found that the inmates need to be segregated on the basis of the level of their sensitivity of their condition, the level of their sensitivity of their condition and their rehabilitation or recovery, but are not.
Besides this residents who are not mentally or physically well are forced to share the same dormitory.
“Non-segregation aggravates the illness and often results in depression, suicide attempts, violent behaviour, et al.” the report states adding that even those rescued women who have children accompanying them are not segregated leaving the children to live alongside other adult residents.
When the matter came up for hearing on Friday, the Advocate General on behalf of the Director of Women and Child Development told the court that the report submitted, has been considered and the State has decided to accept the suggestions therein, except one regarding shifting of the Protective Home to its earlier premises.
Back in August 2016, the Bombay High Court at Goa had taken suo motu cognizance of the living conditions in the protective home after newspaper reports indicated that the women inmates, most of whom were those who needed to be rehabilitated after being rescued from commercial sex work were living in “unhygienic conditions.”
The Protective Home set up under the provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act at Merces Village in the vicinity of the State’s Capital Panaji. The Home serves as a transit home for those victims for counselling and rehabilitation before they can be returned to their homes. While the usual period of stay for the women is around three weeks, that period can extend indefinitely especially in the case of foreigners -- usually Bangladeshis or Nepalese, but also eastern Europeans -- who need to be repatriated after a lengthy procedure.
Earlier the High Court had expressed concern and stressed that it was “the duty of the concerned Departments to ensure that such inmates in protective homes are provided with their basic necessities and are not deprived of their basic needs. The deprivation in life suffered by such inmates cannot lead to mean that the basic facilities are not provided at the
protective homes.”
Government figures indicate that on average seven to ten raids are conducted per year by the Goa Police on hotels and parlours offering prostitution services with the number of victims rescued up to 30 per year.
The High Court has listed the matter for directions on September 19.
