Deoria Shelter Home in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur Another Muzaffarpur in Making? 24 Girls Rescued, Search for 15 Underway after Complaints by Inmate

Gorakhpur, August 6: Even as outrage over the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home Rape case continues to invoke anger and shame across the nation, another incident of a shelter house abuse has come to light, this time from Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district in Gorakhpur. According to news agency ANI, police have arrested a man and his wife, who manage a shelter home in Deoria. In the latest update related to the case, the UP Government has removed Deoria DM, for negligence in the the Deoria shelter home case, from where 15 girls are missing and 24 girls have been rescued.

The license of the shelter house was revoked following an inspection by CBI. The news agency informed that 24 minor girls have been rescued and that search for 15 girls is underway. Check the ANI tweet below:

Superintendent of Police, Rohan P Kanay, said that one of the girls escaped from the shelter home and reached the police. The officer said that the girl informed police that they were treated like servants in the shelter home. The officer was quoted saying by ANI that the girl, also told police that "cars come to pick girls who are above 15 years of age and that the girls come crying the next day (sic)". Police said that investigation is underway in the case.

Rita Bahuguna Joshi, cabinet minister (Women & Child Welfare) in the Uttar Pradesh government, was quoted by news agency ANI, saying that, "After CBI inspection last year, it was established that Deoria shelter home centre was running illegally. A direction was issued to shift the inmates and shut it. But this order was not followed." She further said that CM Yogi Adityanath has ordered for the suspension of Deoria's DM Sujit Kumar and that further action will be taken against the officer after the reports come.

The minister also said that the UP Chief Minister has sent a two-member high level committee to Deoria for the investigation. "They will stay there today & submit a report, following which action will be taken," Rita Bahuguna Joshi was quoted saying by news agency ANI.

Joshi also said that on August 1, an FIR was lodged to shut down the shelter home immediately as "illegal acts were being carried on in the shelter home." In a shocking claim, the minister has said that the list of children enrolled at centre as per records are not present. She added that a girl, who was rescued from the shelter home, got a police complaint registered and that the case is being investigated.

The Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case, where at least 34 minor girls have been raped and abused, came to light when a team of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report based on its findings, after it visited the shelter house. The Bihar police, on the basis of the TISS report, registered a case against the shelter home and Brajesh Thakur, the man who ran the shelter home and others suspected to be involved in the case.

As investigations in the case kept proceeding, the news of rape committed with girls in the house, many among them minors, caused massive political outrage in Bihar. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav leading the charge against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has asked for the resignation of the Chief Minister for failing to act in the case.

A candle march at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, was organised by the Rashtriya Janata Dal and several other opposition parties on Saturday, to protest against the sexual abuse of minors at the shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. The protest was led by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, and he was also joined by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 06, 2018 10:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).