2 more girls missing from shelter home

JAMSHEDPUR: Two girl inmates have been reported missing from a state-registered shelter home in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district, whose director and staff have been booked for alleged sexual assault and torture of underage girls, senior officials familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The incident came to light late on Friday evening when the authorities were shifting 41 inmates from the home to another place.

“Thirty eight inmates have been shifted to Bal Kalyan Ashram in Patamda from the MTWT in Kharanghjar under Telco PS last evening (Friday). It came to notice that two inmates were missing. An investigation is underway,” said Parameshwar Bhagat, Jamshedpur deputy development commissioner.

Earlier, on June 5, two other girls were reported missing from the shelter home, which is run by Mother Teresa Welfare Trust (MTWT) NGO. The two tribal girls were rescued by the police from Birsanagar on June 6.

On June 7, based on the girls’ allegations, an FIR was lodged under Posco (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code against Harpal Singh Thapar, director of the home, his wife Pushpa Rani Tirkey, the chairperson of East Singhbhum district child welfare committee (CWC), warden Geeta Singh, her son Aditya Singh, and another staff member Tony Singh.

MTWT has no links with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

Meanwhile, more questions marked the investigation after BJP district spokesperson Ankit Anand posted an October 2020 interview of Tirkey, where she told a local newspaper that the home had 55 inmates. “I have requested the DC to probe if this is data mismatch or where 12 inmates vanished,” he said.