Brave teachers sought justice for hapless kids

GURGAON: The children of the orphanage belonging to “Suparaana Ka Angan” used to be very depressed in the class and hardly spoke to their classmates. The condition of the traumatized children moved their teachers, who often talked about them with each other.
This was not the first time that Rachit alias Raju was accused of sexual abuse. Nisha Yadav, a teacher of the primary government girls school in Wazirabad told TOI that a year ago a minor girl with the same NGO had bite marks on both her cheeks.When teachers asked the frightened girl about how she got injured, initially she did not reveal anything. But after a lot of persuasion she hesitantly told them that Raju had bitten her.
“The kids told us that they had informed Suparaana Sethi, owner of the NGO, but according to them, she scolded the girls and not Raju. The teachers of the school then raised the issued with the owner who fired Raju but weeks later he rejoined the NGO. The kids told us that Suparaana had asked them not to tell any teacher of the school about the reinstatement of Raju,” said Nisha.
After child welfare officers asked the teachers to talk to the fearful, two courageous teachers, Sunil Kumari and Nisha Yadav, came forward.
The kids were comforted by the teachers who assured them of their safety. They broke down as they started narrating all that the NGO’s cook-cum-domestic help had done to them.
The kids also told the teachers that Raju used to take them to a flat in Greenhouse apartments, where Suparaana used to stay, and abuse them. “That meant that all these misdeeds was known to Suparaana,” said Sunil. These minor girls also told the teachers that Raju used “to make them do oral sex and also videotaped them. He later used the tapes to blackmail them” .
“We took this bold step of involving police in the matter because these children need our help. It could have been our own children in their place. So without much hesitation we took them to the DCP (crime) and sought justice for them,” said Nisha.
Suparaana Ka Angan has been functioning for the past five years and the homeless kids from different places like construction sites were admitted so they get education, food and shelter. The NGO had 70 kids, including boys and girls, of all age groups who were admitted to nearby government and private schools.