‘Drugs, Sexual Abuse Of Kids Rampant In Juvenile Homes’

It’s very rarely that Rohan (name changed) smiles. But when he does, it is easy to spot his two broken front teeth – the grim reminders of a fight that the 17-year-old got into when he was the inmate of a juvenile observation home in the capital. 
    
“I was lucky,” says the lanky youngster. “Many boys have had their face disfigured by blades, or worse, stomach slashed by broken glass from window panes. You have to be on your guard all the time when you are inside. The older boys treat you like their slave. If you resist, they pour boiling water on you. Next come the slashings. “ 
    
Rohan's account of what goes on inside the correctional facility may seem like a Dickensian description straight out of Oliver Twist. As does the story of his life. An orphan, he dropped out of school when he was 9 years old and started doing drugs when he was 10. 
    
“I experimented with everything -- ganja, fluid whitener, injections, smack -- whatever I could lay my hands on,” he says, a flicker of a shadow flitting across his face. “By the time I was 12, I had started breaking into people's homes along with my friends, all of whom were hooked to drugs. We stole stuff that could be sold to fund our habit. The police eventually caught us. I was brought to the observation home where I found that more than half the boys were drug addicts like me.” 
    
It didn't take him long to learn the rules of the game inside, he says. “The older boys -- who are usually repeat offenders – hold sway. Fights break out many times during the day especially when the 'repeaters' are high on what we call the ‘Dus number’ tablet. It removes all feeling of pain. It also makes them very dangerous. We used to dread it when the lights were switched off. Woh bahut galat kaam karte the chhote bachhon ke saath,” he says pointing out that sexual abuse, especially of smaller weaker children, is rampant. 
    
Officials at the observation home deny allegations of abuse of children although they acknowledge that fights do break out. “The only solution is keeping the trouble-makers separate. But we don’t have enough space inside to create separate rooms,” says the facility’s superintendent. As for drug use inside, he says, “Do you think drug peddlers walk into the campus, scale our walls to deliver packets to the boys inside?” 
    
But Rohan – who has now undergone a de-addiction programme and is looking forward to starting life afresh as a motor mechanic – says that the high walls of the observation home with ominous looking barbed wires on top – are hardly a deterrent for those who want to lay their hands on the drugs of their choice.