Two girls missing following sexual assault complaints against shelter home
What's the story
Two minor girls went missing after children from a shelter home in East Singhbhum district in Jharkhand were shifted to another place late Friday evening by the administration after allegations of sexual assaults at the previous shelter home, surfaced. A search is going on to locate the missing girls, a top official said on Sunday.
Details
Two tribal girls had alleged sexual assault at MTWT
Forty children, all minor barring two, were moved to Bal Kalyan Aashram, Gobarghausi in Jamshedpur after complaints of sexual assault over a four-year period at Mother Teresa Welfare Trust (MTWT). The original complaint of sexual assault and harassment had been made by two tribal girls after they were rounded up by the Jharkhand Police on missing reports from the now infamous shelter.
Investigation
The missing girls are only 17 years old
The MTWT is run by a local NGO, which has no connections with Mother Teresa's Sisters of Charity. "Child Welfare Committee found only 38 children at the new shelter home where the children were shifted. Two minor girls aged about 17 years are missing. We are trying to locate them," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), East Singhbhum, Dr. M Tamil Vanan said.
Accused
MTWT director, warden named in the FIR
The 40 children included 24 girls and 16 boys, all of whom are below 18 years barring a girl and a boy each of 20 years. The SSP said the hunt to nab the accused in the FIR, including Director of MTWT, Harpal Singh Thapar, his wife Pushpa Rani Tirkey, Warden Gita Singh, and her son Aditya Singh, was continuing.
Other incidents
In Bihar, 19 people were convicted in a similar case
Tirkey, the wife of the Director of MTWT, was also chairperson of the East Singhbhum district CWC. MTWT was being run for the last 10 years at Kharangajhar, an official said. A Delhi Court had last year convicted 19 persons, including main accused Brajesh Thakur, in connection with the sexual and physical assault of girls at a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district.