NEW DELHI: Days after the Supreme Court turned down a plea filed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), seeking direction for a SC monitored time-bound investigation into cases of children being sold allegedly by shelter homes in Jharkhand, linked with ‘Missionaries of charity’, an organisation founded by Mother Teresa, the NCPCR has written a letter to the Jharkhand government seeking filing of FIRs and initiating action in cases of sexual abuse of minors.
In the letter, the Child Rights body has instructed the concerned officials of the state government to issue directives to file FIRs under the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, on the basis of statements recorded by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of two minor girls of Dumka districts in September 2019 and other victim girls rescued from an institute.
The NCPCR in the letter has further asked the concerned officials to issue directives to register cases under provisions of the POCSO act of all the victims identified as minors whose documents have been seized during the subsequent inquiry conducted. It further has asked for a detailed report of children belonging to other states if any, who were victim of pregnancy and sexual abuse and were residing in the institute related to ‘Missionaries of Charity’ within five days.
Significantly, the Commission’s team during its visit to the state in September 2019 was provided with the statements of two minor girls who were victims of sexual abuse. The statements of the minor girls were recorded by the CWC team, on instructions of District Administration, Ranchi.
According to the details, one of the minor girl while recording her statement before the CWC members had disclosed that she unwillingly made physical relationship with one of the fellow student of her tuition classes after he pressurised her for the same, leading to her pregnancy in the year 2016.
The girl was subsequently brought to Nirmal Hridya Centre, Ranchi, an institute run by the Missionaries of Charity by his father, where she delivered a baby girl in February 2017. The girl further informed the CWC team, that she stayed for around a month at the centre before returning to her village and there were 7 more unwed girls at the centre who had become mothers.
The other girl who appeared before the CWC members and recorded her statement informed, that she was returning to home after the school on a day in summers of 2016, when she was confronted by two youths who raped her subsequently after threatening to kill her with knife. The girl became pregnant and was taken to a nearby health centre by the parents, where she was advised to visit Missionaries of Charity, Dumka.
Upon reaching the place, the girl and her parents was informed that cases of such nature are only handled in Nirmal Hriday Centre at Jail road, Ranchi. The parents were also provided a paper by the Missionaries of Charity, Dumka. When the girl along with the parents reached the Nirmal Hriday centre, Ranchi and informed them that they are willing to abort the baby, they were told that the institution will take care of the baby.
The girl delivered a baby boy in September, 2016 and stayed there for some time. She informed that during her stay time at the institute she and her child were kept apart. The girl returned to her home after two weeks of stay at the centre, however she was not allowed to meet her newly born baby.
On the basis of revelations made by the minors, the Commission in the letter has underscored that in spite of statements available on record which clearly indicates about the sexual abuse of the girls, no action was taken by District Administration of Dumka and Ranchi which is a blatant violation of POCSO Act, as it makes it mandatory to report each such case under its provisions.
The Child Rights body in the latter has further highlighted that in the preliminary Action Taken Report submitted before the Commission in reply to the summons notice issued, it was informed that as many as 13 other victim girls including 8 minors along various documents containing details of pregnancy and sexual abuse were recovered from the Nirmal Hriday institute. The minor girls recovered from the institute were from Dumka districts and their details were also shared with the District Administration, Dumka, though no FIR was registered under the provisions of the POCSO Act.
It further has highlighted, that after looking into the gravity of the situation and various discrepancies along with unsatisfactory response of the State in a matter related to sexual abuse, trafficking and selling of minors, the Commission filed a writ petition before the apex court, who while dismissing the plea recently has observed that the Commission under the CPCR Act, 2005 is empowered to take steps for the protection of children in accordance with the law.
Notably, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh while dismissing the plea of the Commission on September 24 this year underscored, that the NCPCR was empowered to conduct enquiry and take action in accordance with law under the Commission for Protection of Child Right (CPCR), Act, 2005.
The plea was filed by the NCPCR in the year 2020 in which the child rights body had soughed direction for an SIT investigation of all such organisation in Jharkhand, citing enforcement of fundamental rights of prohibition of trafficking in human beings as guaranteed under Article 23 of Indian constitution.
The petitioner in the plea had claimed that several inconsistencies have been found in various Children’s homes across many states who have been added as parties in the plea, this includes cases of child rights violation in the state of Jharkhand where the authorities had adopted a callous approach to protect minors.
The rights body in its plea had further claimed that shocking revelations have been made by the victims during the course of inquiry of such cases which includes the details of children being sold in the children shelter homes. These details were emphatically brought to the notice of the state government of Jharkhand but continuous attempts were made to sabotage and derail the inquiry.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Jharkhand police in July 2018 had arrested a woman staff of the same institute on alleged charges of selling infant born to unwed mothers at the institution. The matter came to light after one of the couple who was promised a newly born baby and was subsequently charged with the money as per the deal was dodged by the said staff of the institute. The couple then visited the CWC office Ranchi, leading to the revelation of the racket.
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