KATHUA ILLEGAL ORPHANAGE: ACCUSED SENT TO POLICE CUSTODY

JAMMU: A second Kathua horror appears to be unfolding after 19 children including eight girls were rescued from an illegal orphanage on Friday and the pastor, Thomas Anthony, 62, placed in police custody for seven days by a local court. Kathua deputy commissioner Rohit Khajuria told Hindustan Times that “serious charges of sexual abuse, torture and physical assault have been levelled by the rescued children against the accused”.

JAMMU: A local court in Kathua sent the accused in the case of sexual abuse at an illegal orphanage being run in Kathua on a sevenday police remand on Saturday, police said.

Pastor Thomas Antony, 62, was allegedly running an illegal orphanage in Kathua from where 19 children including eight girls were rescued after a raid on Friday.

Police have sealed the orphanage, which was raided on Friday evening, for further investigation and accused has been booked under Section 376 (rape) of the Ranbir Penal Code and Jammu and Kashmir Protection of Children from Sexual Violence Ordinance, 2018. Deputy SP headquarters Nikhil Rasgotra will be investigating the matter.

All the children, who have been shifted to Bal Ashram and Nari Niketan in Kathua town, are suffering from scabies and their medical examination has also been conducted. They belong to Gurdaspur in Punjab, Sanji Morh, Samba, Bari Brahamana and Jammu.

“The medical examination of 19 rescued children was conducted at the Kathua district hospital late on Friday night. Their medical reports are awaited,” Kathua deputy commissioner Rohit Khajuria told Hindustan Times. “The children are under medical treatment. All the children were found to be suffering from scabies. they have been provided with new clothes,” he added. DC further said, “Though serious charges of sexual abuse, torture and physical assault levelled by the rescued children against the accused will be investigated by the police, they seem to be true.”

Khajuria also informed that the accused had kept children in a cellar at the rented accommodation. According to the sources, the orphanage was being run in Parliwand ward number 7 of Kathua town for the past four years. “though the orphanage had a good modern kitchen and nothing suggested that the children were ever starved but he had kept them in a cellar,” the DC said. Assistant commissioner (revenue) Jitendra Mishra, who had led the raid on Friday evening, said that the children will be sent back to their families after proper verification.