Doti’s child correction home overcrowded

Dipayal- The only child correction home of Sudur pashchim located in Silgadhi of Doti dis trict is overcrowded. The Doti Child Correction Home is currently housing 53 juvenile delinquents against its capacity to accommodate only 25 children.
This overcrowding has led to management challenges.

There is a problem in their management when more children have to be accommodated exceeding its capacity, said Sanu
maya Limbu, acting administrative officer of the correction home.

According to her, the correction home houses juvenile delinquents aged 11 to 23 years old, who have been kept there to serve
their sentences for various crimes. A juvenile delinquent is a person under the age of 18 who commits an act that would
be considered a crime if committed by an adult.

Juvenile delinquents from seven hilly districts of the Sudurpaschim Province are kept in the correction home. The children from the Tarai districts of Kailali and Kanchanpur are sent to the rehabilitation centre in Banke .

Before 2018, accused juveniles who turned 16 were sent to prison. However, after the promulgation of the Children Act
2075, children under the age of 18 are kept in correction homes.

Limbu mentioned that the number of children in the Child Correction Home is increasing because, as per the court order,
the minors, who commit a crime punishable by law, are kept in correction homes instead of keeping them in jail even after
they cross the age of 18.

Doti’s juvenile correction home is located in the Women’s Development Office, where there are not enough beds for the children accommodated at the home. As a result, some children are forced to sleep on the floor. Due to the lack of a larger facility, the children are forced to live in congested conditions.

“Children should be kept in correction homes to support their all-round development,” said the parent of children from
Achham, who is currently in correction homes.

“However, there are reports of children fighting among themselves, and the reformatory is not child-friendly,” the parent said. Complaints have been that the physical infrastructure of the reform home is not suitable. There is also a risk of children
running away.