NCW team visits Rohtak shelter home

ROHTAK: As the probe in Rohtak shelter home, which is embroiled in allegations of sexual abuse and torture, picks up pace, a team of National Commission for Women (NCW) interacted with the inmates on Sunday - days after police sealed it on Friday.
It took NCW a month to send a team to talk to the victims and get first hand information to compile a report about the shocking disclosures about sexual abuse and torture of girls in Apna Ghar in Rohtak.The three-member team arrived here at noon and inspected the hellhole. It also interacted with the inmates who have been shifted to two other homes -- Sahara ashram and an old age home.
The members, however, refused to divulge details. "We have interacted with the girls and would furnish a detailed report to the commission," said Shamina Shafiq, a member of NWC team.
When asked why the commission took over a month to take cognizance of the incident, she said the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had conducted the raid here since most of the inmates were minors. "We decided to visit and meet the victims after the NCPCR informed us about women victims", she said. The team is also set to visit other shelter homes where the Apna Ghar victims are shifted.
Sources said NCPCR informed NWC a couple of days after the revelations of sexual abuse and torture were known and women stressed upon the need for intervention by a women's body. NCPCR had raided the shelter home on May 9, following a tip off by three girls who had escaped from the house and reached Delhi. The victims exposed the wrongdoings of the home owner Jaswanti Devi and her accomplices. Investigations also revealed that even cops sexually abused inmates and caretakers would brutally abort pregnancies. There are also allegations that foreign nationals would frequent the home and film the girls in the nude. A special team has been formed to probe involvement of police. The Punjab and Haryana high court has also formed a four-member team to investigate abuse of the girls.
Police later found that 41 inmates, including 12 newborns, who had gone missing from the shelter home in three years. Seven persons, including Jaswanti, her brother Jaswant, daughter Simmi, cousin sister Sheila, son-in-law Jai Bhagwan, driver Satish and counseler Veena have been arrested in the case.
Haryana social justice and empowerment minister Geeta Bhukkal said the case is being speedily investigated and the government was compiling all the details of the destitute children and women lodged in shelter homes across the state.
Centre seeks probe report
The Union home ministry has asked the Haryana government to submit an action-taken report on the shelter home at Rohtak. Haryana chief secretary P K Chaudhary has been told to provide a status report on police investigations. Governor Jagan Nath Pahadia also sought a report from the government after INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala submitted a memorandum last week.