Calls grow for action in shelter home abuse case

BJP demanded a judicial inquiry into allegations of physical and sexual abuse of women inmates at a shelter home in Chhattisgarh. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has said that the victims have filed a case and an FIR has been registered.

Raipur:Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bupesh Baghel remained silent on BJP's demand for judicial inquiry into allegations of physical and sexual abuse of women inmates of a shelter home in Bilaspur. After the opposition sought a high-level probe into the matter, Baghel said that the victims have filed a case and an FIR Has been registered.

Leader of opposition Dharmlal Kaushik told ETV Bharat, "A high-level judicial inquiry must be carried out in this case and the accused must be given strict punishment."

Hitting out at the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh, the BJP leader said it is a "very shameful situation" that sexual and physical exploitation of women is taking place in a shelter home monitored by the state government.

Reacting to opposition's claim of administration's lawlessness in the state, CM Bhupesh Baghel said, "The victim has filed a complaint and an FIR has been registered."

"The inmates have made revelations before a magistrate that the women who were staying there were not only subjected to sexual harassment but were also sent out for prostitution. They were also brutally thrashed and stripped and locked in a room there," Kaushik claimed.

The manager of the shelter home, run by an NGO and aided by the government, was arrested on January 21 for allegedly raping an inmate, while three other staffers were held on Saturday on charges of physically assaulting women living at the facility.

Kaushik alleged that revelations in the case hint that women were subjected to sexual abuse and tortute for a long time and we are not aware of many such cases.

He demanded that the state government constitute a judicial commission for a probe into the case.

"It is a matter of concern and if not acted strictly, the accused will continue committing these crimes and there will be no end to it. The government must take stern steps to end such crimes in the state," he added.

Kaushik said the role of police in the case should also be investigated as the victims have alleged that when they went to a police station for registering a complaint of
sexual abuse, the police did not take cognisance of it.

The case against Ujjwala Home, operated by NGO Shri Shivmangal Shikshan Samiti, came to light on January 17 when some of its staff members allegedly did not allow a 20-year- old woman to leave the facility when her husband came to take her back home.

With PTI inputs