Nashik shelter home did not have valid p ermits, say cops

The owner of a Nashikbased shelter home, who has been booked for allegedly raping five minors and a staffer of the institute, did not take permission from the state’s women and child welfare department and the tribal welfare department to run the facility, police officers familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Harshal More, who ran a private shelter home for children from the tribal community at Mhasrul, was arrested on November 24 on the charges of raping a 14-year-old girl from the facility.

He was later booked for allegedly raping four more girls of the institute. During the probe, a woman working at the shelter home said that the 32-year-old sexually assaulted her too after which a separate FIR was filed, police said. Deputy commissioner of police ( Zone I) Kirankumar Chavan said More did not take permission from the state’s tribal welfare department and the women and child development department to run the facility.

“The owner did not take any permission from the tribal department and the women and child development (WCD) department. Our probe has revealed that he had only registered his ashram with the charity commissioner’s office,” Chavan said. More set up the facility in 2018. It housed 13 girls and 14 boys, most of whose parents are daily wage labourers.

Vimala R, the commissioner of the Maharashtra WCD department, said action will be taken against More for illegally running the shelter home. “The facility is not registered with WCD department and if it has been registered illegally then criminal action must be taken,” she said. Nasik division’s additional tribal commissioner Sandip Golait said they have sought strict action against More.

“We have clarified that it is not a tribal ashram. Its functioning comes under the purview of the WCD department,” he said.