Hajipur (Bihar): Close on the heels of the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape scandal rocking the state, another case of alleged sexual harassment of women at a short stay home has come to light with the police arresting the main accused, a Vaishali district administration official.
District project manager Manmohan Kumar Singh, who was entrusted with the supervision of the short stay home, was arrested late on Monday night, town police station inspector Om Prakash said.
The police is searching for four co-accused in the case, which include two women – Priyanka and Karuna Kumar, in-charge and assistant, respectively, of a women’s help line – who have been accused of abetting the crime, the inspector said.
Singh was arrested after an FIR was lodged as per directions of district magistrate Rajiv Raushan.
The district magistrate said a complaint was received from inmates of the short stay home on July 19 in which they had accused Singh of harassment and the others of abetment.
The district magistrate had set up an inquiry committee, which submitted its report two days ago and the FIR was lodged subsequently.
A major scandal broke out recently in the state after it came to light that at least 34 girls were raped over a period of time at a government-funded shelter home run by an NGO in Muzaffarpur.
While the case is now being probed by the CBI, the opposition parties have slammed the Nitish Kumar government on the issue and his social welfare minister Manju Verma had to resign following allegations that her husband was in regular contact with the main accused Brajesh Thakur.
NCW orders inspection
Meanwhile in New Delhi, the National Commission for Women on Tuesday said it has ordered inspection of all 559 government-run Swadhar Grehs following reports of sexual abuse of inmates at some of the homes.
“The NCW is going to inspect all 559 Swadhar homes. To start with, we will go to six states. It is not just to see the condition of women living in these homes, but also to work for their rehabilitation and how we can make them self-reliant,” NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said.
An NCW official said the first six states to be inspected would be Bihar, Karnataka, Mizoram, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The development comes after 11 girls last month went missing from ‘Swadhar Greh’, the shelter home run by the NGO of prime accused Brajesh Thakur in the infamous Muzaffarpur girls’ shelter home rape case, she said.
Another case was the recent deaths of two women under mysterious circumstances at a shelter home in Patna in Bihar that prompted the NCW to order inspection of all Swadhar Grehs, the official said.
In Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, 24 girls were rescued allegedly from sexual abuse and 18 are still missing, while in Pratapgarh, 26 girls were reported missing.
Following these reports, the NCW constituted a three-member committee today to inquire into the working of all shelter homes run under the Swadhar Greh Scheme of the Women and Child Development Ministry and action taken by authorities, the official said.
The Swadhar Greh Scheme was launched by the government for women victims of difficult circumstances who are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation.
The inspection would include interacting with inmates of Swadhar Grehs, authorities concerned, officials and non-officials, and other such persons as considered necessary to ascertain facts and to finalise its findings and make recommendations, the official said.
The inspection of the shelter homes, in the six states, will be completed within 45 days, she said.
(PTI)