NEW DELHI: Trouble seems to have been brewing at the Sanskar Ashram shelter for quite some time. In October, three boys went missing from the Ashram’s shelter home for boys, which is in the same premises as the girls’ facility from where nine girls went missing on Saturday. An FIR was lodged, but no action was taken by the Women and Child Development (WCD) department to improve security of the facility.
In fact, four girls went missing from the same home in 2015, following which the then superintendent was transferred. She, however, was reinstated a year later.
This is not the end of such cases. A series of lapses and irregularities including sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl by a staffer in 2016, beating up of a differently-abled girl by the superintendent last year, and theft of inmates’ belongings went ignored over the years. FIRs were lodged and inquiries ordered by the WCD department, but no concrete action was taken against the accused or responsibility fixed.“In October, three boys escaped and there was nothing done about it. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) asked the home to file an FIR.
Had they looked into the security lapses then, the missing of the nine girls could have been avoided,” said a CWC member.But, WCD secretary Rashmi Krishnan denied any knowledge about the November incident. “I am not aware of the incident yet.”A former CWC member, during whose tenure the incident of the assault on differently-abled girl had come to light, said the then CWC team had written to the WCD department but no action was taken.
“The WCD set up an inquiry, but nothing came out of it. The superintendent was transferred to some other home after a gap of five months and later to the department itself. Even when four girls escaped in 2015, they had somehow arranged the keys of the main gate. This is such a big major security lapse for a shelter home,” she said.
On Tuesday, a Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) team visited the ashram and found the condition dismal there, with DCW chief Swati Maliwal describing it as ‘suffocating’. “The team was deeply disturbed to find that the girls were not given proper and adequate food and clothing. Further, it was observed that regular medical check-up of girls were not done. The attitude of the staff was laid back and insensitive which resulted in untold misery of the girls,” Maliwal said.
BJP seeks STF inspection of shelter homes
New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Vijender Gupta has urged Union WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi to form a special task force to carry out “in-depth inspection” of shelter homes for women and girls in the national capital. Gupta, the leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly, said the mere suspension of the district officer and the shelter home superintendent was inadequate to bring any positive change at these facilities. He said the case indicates the city government and the DCW have failed in ensuring safety of inmates in shelter homes.
“A special task force should be formed to carry out in-depth inspection of every shelter home in Delhi. There must be investigation of the facilities provided, the security measures and rehabilitation programmes being undertaken by shelter homes,” he said. The expert committee set up by DCW chief Swati Maliwal has failed to conduct a detailed social audit of shelter homes in Delhi after cases of alleged sexual abuse at such homes came to light in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh earlier this year, Gupta claimed.
Did brothel owners kidnap the girls?
What added more misery to the Delhi government was that the girls were earlier rescued from GB Road by the Delhi Commission for Women. Given the rescue was done from a red-light area, the DCW has said the police should investigate the possibility of kidnapping of these girls by brothel owners.