CHENNAI: A 14-year-old girl rescued two months ago from an unauthorised home has given birth to a girl. Based on the girl’s statements, Selaiyur police arrested J Prabudass (65), who was running the home near Madambakkam before it was sealed in July.
The girl told police that she was abused by Prabudass for over a year.
“She had not told her mother about it. We came to know only after the hospital alerted us of a minor girl delivering a child,” said police.
The girl was staying in the home for at least six years as her mother was unable to take care of her four children. The girl was in class VIII at a nearby government school. The mother worked as a labourer after her husband left her.
“The girl says she had been facing the abuse from Prabudass since she attained puberty last May. She had kept quiet out of fear. When she was rescued in July, her mother and others assumed that she had a belly because of obesity,” said police.
The home, located near Madambakkam, was raided by Selaiyur police in July after a woman social worker petitioned the city police about the unauthorised home without basic amenities.
Prabhudass, his son Paul Immanuel and daughter in-law Jothi Blessing were arrested under the Juvenile Justice Act and remanded to judicial custody.
Police traced the parents of all nine children rescued from the home and handed them over to the parents.
“The mother admitted the girl in hospital after she suddenly complained of stomach pain. On Monday she gave birth to a girl child in a government hospital at Triplicane. We got the information from the hospital on Wednesday and traced Prabhudass, who had come out on bail and staying in his house at Venkatamangalam in Kancheepuram district,” said inspector Pon Raj.
“Now we have a difficult situation. The victim is still a child and how is she going to take care of another child. The government must immediately provide compensation since it is the failure of the government officials from stopping the unregistered home from running so long,” said social activist A Narayanan, who has been fighting a legal battle against unregistered children’s homes.
He said running a children’s home had become a thriving business to tap foreign funds. Also blind distribution of money to children’s homes by companies under Corporate Social Responsibility programs also led to people opening more and more such homes.