Horror stories have emerged from an orphanage in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore after the minor girls living there, all aged between four and 14 years, alleged that they were horrifically abused in the name of punishment. From being branded with hot tongs to being hung upside down and forced to breathe the smoke of burning red chillies, the children narrated their ordeal to the Child Welfare Committee during an inspection.
The local administration has sealed the facility, while an FIR has been registered against five women for abusing children in the name of punishment.
Jain Welfare Society, the NGO that runs the facility, said it is a hostel, not an orphanage, and filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging the action. It denied all the allegations mentioned in the FIR. This facility named “Vatsalyapuram” is located in the Vijayanagara area. On January 12, it was sealed for alleged illegal operations, while inmates were moved to the state-run child protection home and another institution.
What does the FIR say?
According to the police, the children told the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) that they were tortured in the name of punishment. In the FIR lodged on the night of January 17, it was said that the four-year-old girl was beaten for wearing dirty clothes, kept locked in the bathroom for several hours and not given food for two days.
The FIR also alleged that the children were hung upside down and forced to inhale the smoke of red chilli kept on a hot pan below. Two children were branded with hot tongs at the hands of a minor girl and one girl was stripped naked in front of other children and taken to a furnace and threatened that she would be burnt.
What does NGO say?
Private NGO’s lawyer Vibhor Khandelwal told PTI: “Vatsalayapuram is not an orphanage but a standalone hostel where children from economically weaker families are looked after at an annual fee of just Rs 5.”
Khandelwal said the administration had “unauthorisedly” sealed Vatsalyapuram and norms and due process of law were not followed while shifting prisoners to other institutions. He said that the habeas corpus petition demands that the children be handed over to the hostel administration or their parents.
The writ of habeas corpus is used to free a person from unlawful detention or imprisonment.
Khandelwal also rejected the allegations mentioned in the FIR. Vijay Nagar police station sub-inspector Kirti Tomar said, “Five women associated with the orphanage have been named in the FIR registered under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.”
Tomar further said that the investigation into these allegations is still in the initial stage. “The children rescued from the orphanage are natives of Rajasthan and Gujarat,” CWC chairperson Pallavi Porwal said.
“We have written to the child welfare committees of these states asking them to find out the socio-economic background of these children and submit a report to us so that they can be rehabilitated,” he said.
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