New Delhi, May 5
A non-descript village called Wazirabad in the vicinity of Sushant Lok, Gurgaon’s posh residential colony, witnessed frenetic police activity today after shocking revelations last night of how minor girls housed in a shelter home here were being raped, filmed and threatened by the caretaker in charge of the home.

Supervising the raid at the home, Suparnaa Ka Aangan in Wazirabad, was a team constituted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) which will on Tuesday summon secretaries in charge of social welfare, education and health in Haryana, to seek their explanation for the glaring and consistent violations of child rights in the state.

Only three months ago, the commission had taken cognisance of another shocking incident wherein six minors living in a Gurgaon-based shelter home being run by an NGO called Drone Foundation were found to have been raped by the son of the home’s owner. The accused, now in jail, was HIV positive; so were the girls he raped.

“The case shook our conscience and we issued directions to Haryana to survey all shelter homes housing children across the state and especially in Gurgaon where cases of sexual exploitation of minors have become routine. We ordered all states to make sure every home for children is duly registered under the Juvenile Justice Act and thus monitored. The response has been poor. Haryana has especially displayed utter disregard for the law. We will summon all secretaries concerned to explain this casual attitude,” said Vinod Tikoo, member, NCPCR. He interviewed over 20 children at Suparnaa Ka Aangan.

The home, probe shows, is not registered as a child care institution under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2002 of Haryana. Unlisted, it kept escaping inspections by the district child welfare committee. It was only when an inmate, a class IV student at a nearby government school, wrote about her exploitation in a school notebook and the class teacher saw it, that the story began to unfold.

Six minors at Superna Ka Angan today stated before the magistrate that Raju, an 18-year-old caretaker-cum-cook at the home, had been sexually exploiting, raping, filming and threatening them for over a year. Owners of the home say it was set up in 2008 but neighbours say it is about five years old.

“We have arrested Raju for rape and Superna Sethi, home’s owner, for violating the JJ Act. They have been sent to judicial custody,” Maheshwar Dayal, DCP in charge told TNS. It is also learnt that Sethi knew of the goings on in her shelter home.

The story doesn’t end here. The problem with Haryana is lack of data on unregistered child shelter homes which have been housing children and running mostly on corporate donations. The state recently told the NCPCR it had only 32 legal child protection homes. “That’s a joke. We can count 32 homes in Gurgaon alone and these are all illegal,” says Tikoo.

Another problem is improper constitution of district child welfare committees under the JJ Act. In most Haryana districts, overburdened DCs head these committees which don’t meet the mandated four days a week.

In Supernaa Ka Aangan which NCPCR today described as “unfit for human living”, all inmates are said to be orphans. But the question is -- where did they come from. Under the JJ Act, any child can be put into a shelter home only after he/she has been produced before the district child welfare committee which then orders where the child is to be lodged.

“In Gurgaon clearly, there’s no rule of law. Other parts of Haryana are no better,” says activist Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini, who was part of NCPCR rescue team.

Fatehabad, May 5
The caving in of a recently laid deep sewer line at Ratia in Fatehabad has left the Public Health Department red-faced.

The INLD and the BJP have demanded the registration of a criminal case, even as Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik today constituted an inquiry committee comprising three executive engineers to look into the matter.

Resentment prevails among local people, who have demanded stern action against the contractor and the engineers responsible for the substandard work.

Nearly 200-metre stretch of the road near Sanjay Gandhi Chowk in Ratia town caved in yesterday. The Public Health Department had recently laid deep sewer lines, but the road caved in before the sewer lines could start functioning. Even when the work on the project was in progress, the Zila Parishad chairman, Angrez Singh Lali, who owes allegiance to the INLD, had sought a probe alleging irregularities in the construction.

Lali had also raised questions on the quality of work in Fatehabad town.

Activists of the BJP and the HJC today held demonstration against the failure of the authorities to initiate action against the contractor and the engineers responsible for the lapse.

SDM Harish Bhatia assured people that a thorough inquiry would be conducted and those found guilty would not be spared.

Panipat, May 5
An inquiry conducted by a panel of four doctors at the Panipat Civil Hospital has brought to fore an alleged racket being run by some employees of the hospital in which fake X-Ray reports are issued to unscrupulous persons in a large number of medico-legal cases (MLCs).

Investigations carried out by The Tribune have revealed that the radiographer posted at the hospital since 2005, has been issuing false X-Ray reports to those ready to pay cash.

As per the procedure for getting X-Rays conducted in MLCs, it is the duty of the doctor concerned to personally supervise the X-Rays of the victims and engrave his signature on the X-Ray sheets so that these could be later used to testify in the court of law. As per the inquiry report by Dr Sudhir Batra, deputy civil surgeon, medical superintendent Dr Bhupesh Chaudhary, senior medical officer Dr S K Gupta and medical officer Dr Sukhdeep (a copy of which is available with The Tribune), it was found that during the last two years, more than 5,610 MLC X-Rays were performed at the Civil Hospital. Of these, 2732 X-Rays were signed by the doctors concerned while there were no signatures of doctors on 1197 X-Rays. While, the remaining 1681 X-Ray reports issued by the department were neither signed nor reported to any of the doctors at the hospital.

The inquiry also found that there were no records to ascertain as to how much expense had been incurred on X-Ray films. Besides, some films were shown to have been given to the Community Health Centre at Samalkha without permission. The OPD register of the X-Ray department was also not properly maintained.

Highly placed sources in the hospital confided with The Tribune that these irregularities created enough room for the radiographer to manipulate X-Ray reports and pocket money, while certain innocent persons got convicted in the court of law on the basis of these fake X-Rays. They said the Civil Surgeon has forwarded a letter to the higher health authorities The Civil Surgeon, Dr H. S. Randhawa, said, “Such a matter had come to light. A detailed report has been submitted with senior officials.”

Sirsa, May 5
Over 200 acres of land was inundated when a breach occurred in the Kaluana Minor near Dadu village and Khatrawan yesterday.

While villagers said the breach occurred due to weak banks, the irrigation authorities alleged that some villager breached the canal deliberately. Farmers said a 30-feet-wide breach in the minor flooded their fields causing damage to green fodder and some tubewells.

Three farmers, Harjit Singh, Kashmir Singh and Darshan Singh, said they were to sow cotton in their fields, but now, they would have to put off the plan for a few days. They alleged that the breach occurred due to poor maintenance by the authorities.

An official of the Irrigation Department said the breach was the result of somebody’s mischievous act and the department would find out who did it. 

Sirsa, May 5
In yet another incident of canine attack at Bahiya village in Sirsa, a pack of stray dogs attacked an eight-year-old boy, Bunti. The boy received multiple injuries on his body.

Bunti, a student of a village government school, was returning home when dogs attacked him suddenly. Timely action by villagers saved his life and he was immediately rushed to the General Hospital. A 10-year-old girl was mauled to death by stray dogs in the same village on April 26.

In another incident, stray dogs mauled a calf at the Model Town area of Kalanwali last night. Passersby rescued the calf from dogs and took it to a gaushala for treatment. But the animal died of injuries.

Chandigarh, May 5
A clash of aspirations, the threat of a self-immolation bid and a government’s dilemma- that’s the story so far of the war raging between guest teachers and those aspiring to be teachers in government schools.

And, the entire hullabaloo is all over a one-time measure to allow those yet to clear the Haryana Teachers’ Eligibility Test (HTET), if selected, a three-year period to do so. Not only is the Haryana Patra Adhyapak Sangh opposed to this “relaxation” but members of its women’s wing have threatened self-immolation tomorrow as well to press for the withdrawal of this clause.

The president of the women’s wing, Archana Suhasini, said, “This move is aimed at benefiting guest teachers. Since the government is committed for rehabilitating them. We are jobless despite having cleared the test and these guest teachers, initially given backdoor entry, will walk in and eat into our share of jobs. This is not acceptable. Are we fools to be sitting and awaiting interviews of the Haryana Teachers’ Selection Board?”

Claiming that the execution of the self-immolation threat, earlier scheduled for today, had to be pushed to May 6 after the Rohtak administration denied them permission for a rally, Suhasini holds that this time they would leave nothing to chance and seek the permission from court.

“We will take permission from court and hold our rally and execute our threat. These very guest teachers have taken the test and failed repeatedly. This is a move to ensure they get absorbed one way or another,” she said.

Meanwhile, representatives of the 10,000 guest teachers say the issue is being blown out of proportion. “The government had committed itself to a waiver of the test when we were protesting for being made permanent. So, this relaxation is of three years only, which is the least the government can do. We fail to understand the logic of the sangh especially since we have to clear the test. The interviews are still to be held,” says Arun Malik, president of the Haryana Atithi Adhyapak Sangh.

Kaithal, May 5
The state government has sanctioned 167 railway overbridges (ROBs), which will cost Rs 2,500 crore and out of which 29 ROBs have already been constructed at a cost of Rs 500 crore.

This was stated by PWD and Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala today, after laying a foundation stone of Rs 21-crore under-bridge project, which would be constructed on the Kaithal-Kutabpur road under the Narwana-Kurukshetra railway line near here.

Surjewala said this project would be completed within next one year after which the traffic of the Kaithal-Jind road would not enter Kaithal town and it would directly reach the Kaithal-Khanouri and Kaithal-Patiala road. Thehe rush of vehicles on Kaithal town roads would decrease.

Sirsa, May 5
A team of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Sirsa, checked school buses in Dabwali town of Sirsa last morning and impounded nine buses for various irregularities.

The team also recovered fine from two bus drivers on the spot.

A checking party led by Sant Lal Pachar, Secretary, RTA, Sirsa, reached Dabwali at 6.30 in the morning and started checking buses carrying schoolchildren.

The team checked documents of the buses and also saw the conditions under which the children were being ferried.

Three school buses did have the permit to ply on the road.

Two Tata Magic vehicles were found ferrying 30 children each.

A Jeep carrying 12 children and three autorickshaws ferrying 10 students each were also impounded by the team.

Pachar said that the campaign started by the Regional Transport Authority will continue.

Owing to ferrying of schoolchildren in unsafe conditions in a bus, 12 children were hurt in an accident near Saktakhera village on the Chautala road of Dabwali recently.

Fatehabad, May 5
As many as 450 students received their degrees at a convocation function organised at the Shaheed Baba Deep Singh College of Nursing and Education, Aherwan, in Fatehabad today.

Avantika Maken Tanwar, wife of Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar, delivered the convocation address. — TNS