Minor girls raped in Allahabad orphanage

Allahabad/Lucknow, April 7: In a horrifying incident, three minor girls, including a mentally challenged, were allegedly raped by a peon in Rajikiya Shishu Grih, an orphanage run by the social welfare department of the state government for children below 10 years of age, in Allahabad.

The incident sent shock waves across the state. The Allahabad high court took a suo moto cognizance of the matter and issued directions to complete the trial of the case within three months. The government also swung into action and terminated the services of the accused peon and put the superintendent of the child home under suspension. The Allahabad district administration also ordered a magisterial probe to find out if there are more such victims in the home.

The victims are said to be between six and nine years of age and were being subjected to physical and mental trauma by the peon, Vidya Bhushan Ojha, for the past couple of years. He had threatened them of dire consequences if they dared disclose the matter. However, the trauma these girls were undergoing came to light when one of the victims was adopted by a childless couple. The couple found blood stains in some clothes of the girl she brought from the shelter home.

Upon inquiry, the girl told the couple about the peon's heinous act. They immediately informed the local authorities. Later inquires revealed that there were two more victims. The three girls were sent for medical examination. Later, authorities said that in two cases of rape had been confirmed. One of the victims is mentally challenged.

The accused has been arrested. He belongs to Siwan district in Bihar and was employed on contract basis for the past five years. "We have terminated the services of the accused and put the orphanage superintendent Urmila Gupta under suspension till the inquiry is complete," Bihari Swarup, director, social welfare, told TOI. Officials suspect that a few mentally challenged orphan girls in the home might also have been physically abused. Experts will be called to interact with the mentally retarded girls to find out the truth. Other children in the orphanage are also being examined. The number of children in the orphanage is much more than its capacity and is in poor condition. Most of the residents are girls as the childless couple prefer boys for adoption.

Though district magistrate Anil Kumar ordered a magisterial probe into the incident, taking suo moto cognizance, a division bench of the Allahabad high court comprising Justice Amar Saran and Justice Ashok Srivatava issued direction that investigation of the case and trial be conducted within three months in order to send a strong deterrent message that neither the court nor the society can tolerate such abhorrent conduct by a person who are given the charge of protecting orphan children. The bench has also directed the principal secretary, women and child welfare, UP, to submit an affidavit on steps being taken to ensure that sincere persons are appointed as superintendents in all such shelter homes in the state besides improving their security.

The court also directed the principal secretary to inform as to what action had been taken against employees, who have been found engaged in similar crime in the past. The district magistrate and senior superintendent of police of Allahabad have been directed to appear before the court on April 11, 2012 to explain how such an incident took place in the government children home. Soon after, a team of law students of Allahabad University comprising Utkarsh Dixit and Shobhit Dubey visited the orphanage and interacted with the residents. Later, they told TOI that many children hinted about sexual abuse. Apprehending that child trafficking might also be taking place in the home, the team said that it would file a fresh PIL for a thorough probe by a CBI or a retired judge.

This is not the first incident when minor and disabled girls have fallen victim to perverts in government institutions in the state. Last year, a visually challenged girl was raped in the government school for blind in Lucknow. In December 2012, as many as 12 deaf and dumb girls and a boy studying in a government-aided school for hearing impaired had complained about sexual harassment by the son of the school manager. The children were also being exploited by the staff. On April 5, minister of state for women welfare Aruna Kori suspended three employees of girl shelter home in Kanpur after a girl ran away. Later, she was recovered by the police. She revealed that she escaped because she was forced to clean the toilet and was beaten up when she refused.