20 Italians staying ‘illegally’ at G’gram shelter home

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, August 14

The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of Gurugram district has issued a notice to Deep Ashram, a shelter home, in connection with housing 16 foreign students without securing permission of the administration and informing the police.

The CWC team headed by chairperson Shakuntala Dhull carried out a check of the shelter home near Atul Kataria Chowk. They found 16 students from Italy staying with four other Italian nationals, who claimed to be their caretakers.

Sources said the shelter home authorities pleaded that the foreign nationals were here for three days as part of an exchange programme. The CWC sought a reply from the shelter home authorities within a week on not seeking permission from or intimating the administration.

“The CWC should be intimated about every child even in case of stay for a few days,” said Dhull.

“We found foreign nationals, but the shelter home did not inform us or take permission for their stay. We have sought their visas, passports and other documents. A show-cause notice has been served on the shelter home,” she said.

The police were alerted about the incident. They were verifying the credentials of the guests at the shelter home. The CWC had been carrying out raids across the state following reports of sexual assault on inmates in shelter homes at Muzaffarpur in Bihar and Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.