NEW CASE IN INDIA...

                                                         NEW CASE IN INDIA...

                  Three years after stories of sexual abuse emerged from Rohtak’s Apna Ghar shelter home, similar cases involving destitute minors have surfaced from an illegal ashram being run from Hisar. The police on Friday registered a case on the basis of an FIR filed by the Deputy Commissioner, but have refused to name the five accused mentioned in the FIR against Shri Krishan Pranami Bal Sewa Ashram of Kaimri village. The case is registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Juvenile Justice Act and the IPC.The ashram is functional since 1974 but was registered temporarily in September 2012 for only a year.

                      An internal report of the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department, Panchkula, and some audio clips of the conversation between the ashram head and WCD officials reveal that the ashram girls were reportedly being exploited by persons close to the management.During an inspection in May this year, WCD Director Amneet P Kumar had asked the district administration to shift inmates to a legal shelter home after she found that the ashram was not registered under the Juvenile Justice (care and protection of Children) Act.

                           On August 13, Amneet again wrote to Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar Khare informing him that girls were being sexually exploited in the ashram. Since no action was taken yet again, she wrote to the DC for a third time on September 10 seeking action against ashram authorities after which on September 15 the district administration shifted 46 inmates, including 19 girls, to another shelter home — Shaishav Kunj — located 2 km from the ashram. Amneet said: “As soon as we got to know about the girls’ exploitation in the ashram, we informed the administration.”

                            Khare said the district administration had been conducting an internal inquiry into the case all this while. “The district administration has submitted its report to the WCD. The WCD director referred back to us for further inquiry. After a thorough probe, I referred the case to the police. The investigation is under process.” The ashram records show that it sheltered 51 inmates, but only 46 were shifted to Shaishav Kunj. Finding no trace of the remaining five children, the DC had referred the matter to the police on September 29. Sources say the five children had turned adults and hence left the ashram that houses only minors. Sources say taking advantage of the “lax” handling of the case, the accused have managed to pressurise victims seeking “favourable” statements during the impending inquiry. “Some persons took some of the girls back to the ashram when they were attending school. Yesterday, a woman from ashram had come to Shaishav Kunj and was seen interacting with girls,” a source said.

                            Interacting with a police team led by DSP Bhagwan Dass, two girls said they had made a mistake. In their statements under Section 164 of the CrPC, the girls again said “they were friends with boys in the ashram and did not want action against anybody”.Superintendent of Police Satender Gupta said women police SHO Nanhi Devi had talked to the girls. “They are neither ready to undergo a medical test nor want action against anybody,” he said.

                            Raj Das Maharaj, a coordinator of the ashram, rubbished allegations of girls’ sexual exploitation at the ashram. “Some girls could be friends with the boy inmates. We were not aware of this. The police have been conducting an inquiry,” he said. Vinod Kumar Tikoo, former member of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said the police were interrogating the victims in uniform, which was not recommended. “They are terrorising them instead of making them comfortable.”

                                                                                             Prachi Pravin Andhalkar. MACJ