Chhattisgarh: Three women held for assaulting inmates at shelter home

Bilaspur, January 23

Two days after the manager of a shelter home for women was arrested for allegedly raping an inmate, three women employees of the facility in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district were nabbed on Saturday, police said.

The police have arrested three women staffers of Ujjawala Home, a government-aided shelter, on charges of physically assaulting inmates, said JP Gupta, station house officer (SHO) of Sarkanda police station here.

The trio, all in their 20s, was arrested based on the statements of three inmates, who were recently shifted out of the shelter, he said.

Ujjawala Home Bilaspur, run by NGO Shri Shivmangal Shikshan Samiti since 2014, landed into controversy on January 17, when a 20-year-old woman was allegedly not allowed to leave the shelter even after her husband came to take her back home.

The man then forcibly took his wife and reached Sarkanda police station where they lodged a case of wrongful confinement, voluntarily causing hurt and obscene acts against the shelter home staff.

Shelter home manager Jitendra Maurya also lodged a case against the woman’s family on charges of house trespass and obscene acts, he said.

Meanwhile, two other women inmates also reached the police station alleging physical and mental abuse of women at the facility and they were also made complainants in the case, he said.

On January 19, the three women approached the media stating that one of them was sexually assaulted by Maurya and other inmates were physically tortured by the staff, following which they were called to record their statement before a magistrate on Thursday.

In their statements, one of them alleged that she was raped by Maurya, following which he was arrested, he said.

Another woman also said that she and other inmates was physically assaulted by the staff, based on which three women employees were apprehended, he said.

Further investigation into the matter is underway, he added.

The shelter home has been shut and seven other inmates have been shifted to their homes and other government facilities, another official said. --- PTI

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