THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two girls, who were inmates of the Nirbhaya Shelter Home at Poojappura here, went missing on Monday.The girls, aged 16 and 17, were Plus-I and Plus-II students of Cotton Hill Government Higher Secondary School here.
According to the police, the girls were last seen near the school premise at 8.45 am, but went missing by 9.30 am.Both the girls were natives of Kollam. The parents of both the girls came to the Museum Police Station in the evening to give statement.
“We got no vital information from the parents that could help the course of the investigation. As they are from a poor background and they thought the girls would be safe in the shelter home,” Museum Circle Inspector Ajith Kumar G L said.
The girls were housed at the Nirbhaya home, run by the Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society (KMSS), in the beginning of the year, subsequent to which they were admitted to the Cotton Hill School. The KMSS has also lodged a complaint with the Museum police. Another girl had recently tried to escape from the Nirbhaya home, following which the security of the building where the home has been functioning was strengthened.
Advisor of ‘Nirbhaya’ Project Resigns
Sunitha Krishnan, noted activist and founder of Prajwala which works for rape survivors, resigned as advisor of ‘Nirbhaya’, the project launched by the Department of Social Justice for the rehabilitation of women and children who were victims of sexual harassment.
Citing lack of political will to implement the Nirbhaya project, Sunitha Krishnan in a resignation letter sent to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday said that the decision was made with ‘’deep anguish, pain and frustration”. “In spite of the high-level meetings both at the state and executive level for the last two-and-a-half years there has been no real effort to implement the project in its true spirit. On the contrary, a lot of confusion has been created earlier this year by the announcement of another Nirbhaya scheme/project by the Home Department. All mypersonal efforts to synthesise the two policies seems to have been in vain,’’ the letter says.
‘’At the Department of Social Justice level due to my constant efforts for over one year a move was made to constitute a Nirbhaya Cell to implement the project,” the letter says. It also says that the office of the Chief Minister to her ‘utter dismay’ rejected the file recommended to create the cell. ‘’In the last two years I have given my advice to the Social Justice Department. But I have realised that, an advisor’s role is limited if there no committed team to take the recommendations forward,’’ the letter says.