M A I N   N E W S

Report reveals rot in Haryana child homes
n Child panel tells Chief Secy to file ATR in 30 days n Top bureaucrats, cops admit to lapses before panel
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 14
It is Haryana’s hall of shame. Days after minors were found to have been sexually abused by a caretaker at a Gurgaon shelter home, the case of a state-recognised institution in Rohtak has come to the fore, breaking previous records of child rights violations in the state.

The four-member team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which raided Bharat Vikas Sangh on May 9, in its final report today, detailed horrific cases of abuse and said young girls were routinely disrobed at the home, beaten up with iron rods, made to go without food and water for days and forced to work as labourers in farms. The commission said mentally challenged women from the home were abandoned at railway stations and some deaths that happened at the institution were never reported.

Terming the violations “sickening and shocking”, NCPCR member VK Tikoo, who led the probe team, put Haryana Chief Secretary on notice and asked him to report back in a month on action taken on the lapses.

In another major development, top brass of the state administration, including bureaucrats and police officers, appeared before the commission to explain the serial child abuse in the state where three major cases of human rights violations have come to light in three months.

Principal Secretary, Women and Child Welfare, Haryana Dheera Khandelwal, Deputy Commissioners of Rohtak, Gurgaon and Faridabad; DGP Haryana, IG Rohtak Range Alok Mittal and Police Commissioner of Faridabad appeared before the NCPCR.

“They admitted to lapses and said they would come back to us with a mechanism to inspect the homes. We want to know the details of monitoring mechanism. It can’t be a general inspection. We have asked the police how they will bring the offenders to justice,” Shanta Sinha, chairperson of the Commission told The Tribune.

The officials were summoned to explain the following cases - sexual abuse of minors at Drone Foundation in Gurgaon (the girls ended up with HIV infection); sexual abuse of minors at a home in Gurgaon; abuse of young girls in a government recognised shelter home in Rohtak and rampant rescues of trafficked minor girls in Faridabad.

The Rohtak case, the latest in the line, was discussed in detail with the NCPCR report pointing out shocking violations of children’s rights.

The report prepared on the basis of interviews with 65 girls children at the home details instances of “disrobing them, tying them to iron grills, and beating them with iron rods and wooden sticks; making them starve for days on the slightest pretext of indiscipline; hitting their private parts; using them for domestic work at the house of owner Jaswanti and her relatives (now in jail) and forcing them into farm work using sickles.

“Infants were allegedly given away for money without the consent of biological mothers,” the commission said, seeking a CID inquiry into missing infants’ case.

“Several cases of deaths have not been reported. Haryana must take cognisance of these criminal lapses. Children told us of these deaths but there are no records, medico-legal reports or postmortem certificates.”

Panel cracks whip

n Tells state to arrange medical checkup of all inmates in 10 days

n Counsel victims sexual abuse in 10 days

n Freeze bank accounts held in the name of the organisation and owner

n Get a complete audit of all financial transactions by the organisation done within 10 days

Rohtak shocker

n A four-member team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights raids Bharat Vikas Sangh on May 9

n Comes across horrific cases of abuse, says young girls were routinely disrobed at the home, beaten up with iron rods, forced to starve for days and molested by owners’ kin

n The commission says mentally challenged women from the home were abandoned at train stations