SCAN director Emidio Pinho in a memorandum has said that the Rule 68 (9) of the Goa Juvenile Justice Rules 2013 envisages that for 100 juveniles or children the staff (matrons) required is 4 in numbers and presently with the strength of 20 inmates at Apna Ghar there are 5 matrons which is in excess as per the provisions of the Goa Juvenile Justice Rules 2013.
“The present role of matrons is to look into the needs of the children and supervise both male and female caretakers. During our intervention at Apna Ghar we found that matrons rarely visit the male block and the reason the matrons cited was that the boys are abusive and make vulgar gestures,” Pinho said.
Hence, Pinho requested that it would be better if a house father is appointed instead of matrons so that the needs of male inmates are looked into. “Rule 88 of the Goa Juvenile Justice Rules (GJJR) 2013 speaks about male housefather but till date no male house father has been appointed in Apna Ghar. The appointment of a male house father would also help in supervising male caretakers,” he said.
The director believes that the appointment of house father would help in the decrease in escapes and more importantly would help in building a better environment for the male inmates.
The Directorate of Women and Child Development is in process of recruiting persons for the post of matrons in the Apna Ghar.
