Sexual abuse in juvenile home not possible: Deo

JAIPUR/ALWAR: A day after alleged 'sex exploitation' of two inmates at a juvenile correction home came to light, under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), department of child rights confirmed that inmates faced atrocities.
However, it ruled out all possibilies of sexual abuse in the juvenile correction home in Bharatpur.
Hansa Singh Deo, director, department of child rights, reached Bharatpur on Wednesday, to investigate into the matter. She interacted with the inmates and tried to get more information what was actually happening in the juvenile correction home. "Every inmate complained that they were beaten up every night by three elder inmates. Also, there were asked to bring money and mobile phones for them," Deo said.
But she ruled out that any kind of sexual abuse happened in the juvenile correction home. "I spoke with the inmates, and on the basis of my interaction with both the inmates, today I can say with 90% surity that no incident of sexual abuse happened in the home. I don't say 100% as I am still waiting for the medical reports of the two inmates. Prima facie, the case does not come in the definition of physical abuse," Deo said.
She said that one inmate complained of becoming a victim of physical abuse some one-and-a-half months ago.
However, now the department of child rights is holding the staff and guards deployed at the juvenile correction home responsible for all the chaos at the home. "I will hold probationary officer, three guards and other staff responsible for all the problems that have happened in the home as they knew what is happening inside the juvenile home," Deo said.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of police (SP) Bharatpur Rahul Prakash said that they have conducted a medical test of the two complaining inmates. After recording their statement under section 164, the accused will be arrested. Three accused have been named. They will be arrested through protection warrant. The accused are more than 18 years old.
After investigating into the case, tehsiladar has submitted the report to the sub-divisional magistrate. However, the district collector is yet to receive it. District collector Ravi Jain said that he would be able to comment on it after receiving the report.