The Yogi Adityanath-led government has reportedly agreed that the officers in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria district did not act against a shelter home in the Deoria town, despite clear instructions from the government as early as June 2017 and a criminal case filed just 10 days ago against the woman who ran the shelter home.
On August 7, a report was submitted by a two-member UP government investigation team looking into the allegations of sexual and physical abuse with girls at the shelter home submitted yet but it is unclear whether sexual assault has been confirmed. Yogi Adityanath’s government handed over further proceedings of the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A late night press conference was conducted in Lucknow, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the district administration in Deoria had to answer many questions.
“Our inquiry has found that the shelter home was running in its current form since 2009. In June 2017, our government had ordered that the home be closed and the girls be sent to other homes, but this was not done despite repeated letters from our side. The District Magistrate was transferred yesterday and we are issuing him a charge sheet. An FIR was filed against the shelter homeowners on July 30. Still, no action was taken. A senior police officer will inquire into the role of the police”, said the chief minister.
One of the rescued girls, a 21-year-old was recovered from an old age home in Gorakhpur in the evening of August 7, whereas 14 girls are still reported missing from the shelter home. Five people were also arrested from Gorakhpur.
A police raid conducted on Sunday night resulted in the recovery of 21 girls and three boys and were allegedly sexually and physically abused at the shelter.
Police confirmed that the search was underway and that the list of 42 girls was a floating list and that girls come and leave from shelter homes like these. “The list of 42 girls was last updated on July 31 and we are looking to account for each of the 18 girls – some of them could have simply gone home. We are also looking at whether the NGO had inflated numbers by putting up fictitious names on the list to get more private funding.”, police officials said.
Also Read: CBI takes charge of Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual assault