Kids abused, tortured at Indore ‘orphanage’

Indore, January 19

Minor girls at an Indore “orphanage” narrated tales of abuse and alleged horrifying ways of punishment, including branding with hot tongs, hanging them upside down and forced to inhale smoke from burning red chillies, prompting the local administration to seal the facility and the police to file an FIR against five women.

FIR against 5 women

• Local administration has sealed ‘Vatsalyapuram’ and got FIR registered against five women
• Girl inmates, aged between four and 14, have been shifted to state-run facilities

As the shocking tales, recounted by the inmates before a Child Welfare Committee (CWC), surfaced an FIR (first information report) was registered against five women associated with the facility for allegedly ill-treating children in the name of punishment, a police official said on Friday. The facility, described by officials as an “orphanage”, was sealed by the local administration.

However, the NGO running the children’s facility said it was a hostel and not an orphanage, and filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging the administration’s action of keeping the children, who were moved out of the shelter, allegedly under illegal detention. A habeas corpus plea is filed before a court to ascertain whether a person has been detained legally. It also denied all allegations mentioned in the FIR filed on the basis of a complaint by the local CWC.

The administration sealed the facility, “Vatsalyapuram”, located in the Vijayanagar area on January 12 for illegal operation and shifted the inmates, girls aged between four and 14 years, to the state-run institutions, the official said.