How safe shelter homes in North India?

On Dec 4, 2018

Muzaffarpur: Police personnel escort children out of a government-funded shelter, in Muzaffarpur, on Monday, July 23, 2018. A girl of a government shelter home has alleged that one of her fellow inmates was beaten to death and buried at the premises of the facility, and several were raped. (PTI Photo)(PTI7_23_2018_000192B)

Delhi: NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – A pity state of shelter homes in the county in the news lately with reports of neglect, abuse and harassment surfacing from several places is a matter of concern.

1^st December night, nine girls went missing from Dilshad gardens Shankar Ashram for girls located in east Delhi. The event came to light when after a missing person’s FIR was filed at GTB Enclave in the case of the minor girl. The Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) shared that a local made them aware of the disappearance of these girls.The same nine girls were rescued from human traffickers and were living in a shelter home at Dwarka before moving to Shankar Ashram.

The Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) said a local made them aware of the disappearance of these girls and believes that the police should investigate the possibility of them being kidnapped by brothel owners.

Earlier, the commission received a detailed complaint from the Child Welfare Committee-V, Dilshad Garden, regarding irregularities in the functioning of the Sanskar Ashram for Girls Home. As per the complaint, a girl with disabilities was subjected to severe abuse and corporal punishment by the superintendent of the shelter home, triggering the intervention of the committee. Soon after, the DCW received more complaints of the superintendent in question beating up other girls.

But sadly, neither the Department of Women and Child Development or the Delhi police took any action.

In August, 24 women were rescued from Uttar Pradesh shelter home when a ten-year-old was sexual exploitation after escaping from the premises. The girls there were allegedly drugged before being sent to ‘powerful men’.

According to a shelter home audit in Bihar, similar conditions was observed in 15 institutes in the state with allegations of over 30 girls being raped and sexually abused at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur. Reports surfaced in July that 29 girls aged between 7-17 years had been raped and abused for months at a state-funded shelter home run by NGO Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti.

Most recently, an NGO-run shelter home was sealed in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district following allegations that the minor inmates there were sexually abused.