LUCKNOW: In the wake of Deoria shelter home sex racket case, raids and searches were conducted in women and child homes across the state following which a fake missing case of 19 women was reported from a 'Swadhar Grih' in Beniganj area of Hardoi district, barely 1110 km from state capital Lucknow, during an inspection by the District Magistrate on late Monday night.
The incident which came to light within 24 hours of the Deoria racket, the shelter home in Hardoi had shown 21 girls on rolls, but when the district magistrate Pulkit Khare conducted an inspection on Monday, he found only two present.
The whereabouts of rest 19 were not known. While a probe was on into the functioning of the shelter home, Hardoi police chief said that it was a case of forgery and the shelter home had made false entries on rolls just to seek aid from the government. The names and addresses of rest 19 women were fake. Believably, they were from adjoining villages.
"They were registered falsely by the shelter home owner to draw aid," said a senior official. Consequently, the authorities, on Tuesday, booked the shelter home manager Mohammed Razi and superintendent Aarti Singh for fraudulently availing financial assistance from the state government on the pretext of running a shelter home for destitute women and girls.
According to the DM, a case was lodged against the both Razi and Aarti Singh under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 477-A and 491 of IPC. "While the superintendent of the shelter home failed to explain the absence of rest 19 inmates on being questioned, the two who were present on the spot claimed that only they had been living in the shelter home for quite some time," said a senior officer of Hardoi administration. He added that the two inmates had no clue about other girls.
According to sources, Swadhar Grih is operated by the Ayesha Gramodhyog Samiti, Pihani, Hardoi to train the destitute girls for self-employment. Notably, alarmed over Muzaffarpur case, CM Yogi Adityanath had ordered all the district magistrates, on August 3, to ensure that all the shelter homes across UP were running according to rules and also ensure proper care and protection to the inmates. He reinforced his orders following Deoria revelations on Sunday night seeking a report from all the DMs on the shelter homes in their respective districts by Monday evening.