The three teachers arrested for alleged rape of girls at a deaf and dumb school at Shimla. Tribune photo: Amit Sharma
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Shimla, March 18
Charges of rape and sexual abuse by six girl inmates of a home for the deaf and dumb being run by an NGO in the Totu area of the state capital has left everyone shocked with the police arresting three of the suspects after the matter came to light today.
The police arrested the three employees, Vijay, the acting principal, Dinesh and Vinod, both teachers after the girls, including four minors, made the complaint to the police. A police team has already been dispatched to Sundernagar to arrest the fourth accused, Amarjit.
Some girls in the age group of 13 to 21 have alleged that they were repeatedly raped for the past one year while some others became target in the absence of a warden for the past two months. The girls were exploited by their own teachers who had been engaged to teach them Braille and other skills.
What is most shocking is the fact that the girls had been staying in the institute without a lady warden for the past two months and the lady cook too used to return home at night. Those running the institute said with the warden away on maternity leave, there was no lady warden at the institute.
A case has been registered against the accused under Section 376- II. Out of the six girl inmates, four are below the age of 18 while the rest two below 21. The police has now deputed lady police at the institute till the parents of the girls arrive here. The girls hail from Sunni, Theog, Arki, Kunihaar and Hiranagar.
“It was through our own sources that we got information about sexual exploitation of girls at Prerna Welfare, an NGO being run in the Totu area of the town,” SP R.M. Sharma said. He said as per preliminary investigation and statements of the girls, they seemed to have been made victim by their own teachers.
Police sources said the fact that the institute had been
without a lady warden
