Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

11 women missing from shelter home run by same NGO

- Ajay Kumar htpatna@hindustant­imes.com

MUZAFFARPU­R: Bihar authoritie­s have registered a first informatio­n report (FIR) against the Muzaffarna­gar-based NGO Seva Sankalp Ewam Vikas Samiti (SSEVS), in connection with 11 women missing from a short-stay shelter it runs for destitute women aged above 18 years.

Swadhar Griha, the short-stay home, is on Sahu Road, barely 200 metres away from the Balika Griha, also run by the NGO, where 34 of 42 inmates who were medically examined were found to have been raped. At least 10 people, including Brajesh Thakur, operator of the NGO, have been arrested after probe agencies discovered that a majority of the inmates of Balika Griha, a shelter home for destitute minor girls in the age group of seven to 17 years, being run on a campus owned by Thakur’s family, were sexually exploited, tortured and used as sex slaves. Police said the social welfare department had also asked SSEVS to shut Swadhar a long time ago but it remained open. Police said state social welfare department deputy director Divesh Chandra Sharma submitted a written complaint to the women’s police station house officer alleging that 11 destitute women were missing from the home. Confirming the registrati­on of FIR, station house officer Jyoti Kumari said, “The officer, in his written complaint, alleged SSEVS ran the Swadhar Griha at its headquarte­rs office on Sahu Road under Town police station.

A social welfare department team visited the shelter home in March and found 11 women sheltered there missing. Another team that visited the home on June 9 also found the inmates missing.” Kumari said, quoting the FIR, that on finding the women inmates missing, the officer sought instructio­ns from his officers in Patna and then filed the complaint.

On May 31, the women’s police instituted a case against the NGO for alleged sexual exploitati­on of minor girls in Balika Griha. Soon after the FIR was lodged, the department shifted 46 inmates to three shelter homes in Madhubani, Patna and Mokama. They were sent for medical tests which found at least 34 out of 42 girls tested positive for rape; medical tests on two inmates could not be performed because of mental and physical disorders.

Following pressure from the opposition, the government of chief minister Nitish Kumar on July 26 recommende­d a Central Bureau of Investigat­ion probe into the case.

CBI detectives officially took charge of the case on Sunday.

Staffs and officials of the NGO have either been arrested or are absconding, and were not available to react to the latest allegation.

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