Sexual abuse in govt-aided shelter in Haryana

Jyoti Kamal CNN-IBN | 08-Jun 09:46 AM

Chandigarh: Women and children in a government-aided shelter in Haryana are allegedly being abused and raped. CNN-IBN has accessed the High Court Committee's report which points to the involvement of policemen as well.

It is a sordid and familiar tale of sexual exploitation at a women and children's shelter in Rohtak in Haryana. A court-ordered probe into Apna Ghar, the shelter, has revealed shocking facts - women and children are forced into prostitution, and also gang raped and abused - in some cases by the Haryana police officers.

Member of the High Court's investigation team Utsav Bains said, "I've been doing work related to child welfare for seven to eight years now. But I haven't seen this kind of torture or sexual exploitation anywhere in my life."

Jaswanti Devi who runs the shelter has been arrested along with her daughter, son-in-law and a relative. But the investigation also reveals that Devi is being given special treatment for the fear that she will name the government and police officials involved in the sexual exploitation racket. Meanwhile, more shocking statements have emerged from the probe that pregnant inmates were forced to undergo painful abortions that verged on torture and were gang raped by police officers.

"One of the demands was either a special investigation team with members outside Haryana or the CBI investigate it. The local administration is hand-in-glove in this," bains claimed.

Haryana Police DGP Ranjeev Dalal said, "We will investigate and find out who are the officers involved. Anyone who is found guilty will definitely be strictly punished."

The whole case only came to light because two girls ran away from the home in May this year and told their horrific story to the National Commission for Child Rights. The Punjab and Haryana High Court formed an investigative team after a PIL was filed.

Helpless children and women were sexually exploited under the garb of running a shelter home and helping keep it under wraps were some Haryana police officials, the very men meant to prevent it from happening in the first place - that is what the High Court team's initial investigations reveal.

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