The Delhi Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against a privately run shelter home in Dwarka after Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal lodged complaint against those involved in the management.
There are serious allegations that girl housed in the shelter home were being physically abused by the shelter home people. The enormity of the abuse could be judged by the fact that the staff members used to throw chilly powder on their private parts of the girls as punishment and forced them to live in abominable condition.
An FIR has been registered with the Dwarka Sector-23 police station under Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act, said a police official.
Inhuman treatment meted out to the girls came to the fore when the expert committee of DCW, set by the Delhi government started conducting surprise inspections of private and government run shelter homes in the National Capital Delhi and give suggestions for the improvement of the living condition of the girl inmates.
“The committee comprising of four members of DCW visited the home on 27th December 2018, and found that the girls with different age group were kept in a very poor condition,” said DCW member.
The committee interacted with girls of age group 6-9 years, 10-13 years and 13-15 years to understand their experience of residing at the shelter home.
The girls appeared petrified but opened up once cajoled by the committee members to narrate the problems they were faced with. The elder girls (teenagers) told the members and police, “Any sort of defiant behaviour from the children would be met with serious and excruciating punishment because of which the girls had become submissive. The girls were forced fed chilli powder in order to discipline them. It was horrifying to know that chilli powder was thrusted publicly in their vagina and butts by female shelter home staff as forms of punishment,” a report by the DCW stated. The girls were also punished by beating with scales for not keeping the rooms clean and for not listening to the staff. The girls were not permitted to go home during summer and winter vacations.
The shelter home had only one staff and cook to look after the 22 girls. The expert committee was appalled at the cruel behavior being meted out to the hapless girls as forms of punishment. “After witnessing the poor state of the girls, the committee immediately called the Deputy Commissioner for Police, Dwarka who sent a team of senior officers to the shelter home in civil dress (to maintain child friendly atmosphere) and recorded statements of the children. An FIR has been registered by Delhi Police against the staff of the Home,” said DCW chief.
Maliwal said, the Minister of Women and Child department took cognisance of the gravity of the situation and penal action was initiated against the accused staff members of the shelter home. Delhi government is mulling to set up an enquiry in the matter, she added.