Patna: The state government on Sunday suspended 14 social welfare department officials over sexual abuse at shelter homes, even as a fresh FIR was lodged against a Saran-based NGO with the Patliputra police station in the state capital.
The 14 officials penalised for negligence and dereliction of duty include Devesh Kumar Sharma, assistant director of the Muzaffarpur child protection unit, and his counterparts in six districts.
The fresh FIR was lodged after a child protection officer in Patna lodged a complaint against the office bearers of the Institute of Khadi Agriculture and Rural Development Society (IKARD), Saran, alleging that gross irregularities were detected during the social audit conducted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Tiss) at the Uttar Raksha Grih for minor girls located at Patliputra Colony here.
The Tiss study had blown the lid off the Muzaffarpur shelter home horror as well.
The girls from the Uttar Raksha Grih run by IKARD were shifted to a shelter on Gola Road in Danapur on July 2 on the directive of the women development corporation. The NGO was running the shelter home for the past three years.
Patliputra police station house officer K.N. Tiwari confirmed that the complaint had been lodged.
Sources said Rajesh Ranjan is the chairman of the NGO and Nagendra Prasad Singh is the chief functionary.
Social welfare department director Raj Kumar confirmed the suspension of seven assistant directors of child protection units in Muzaffarpur, Munger, Araria, Madhubani, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur and Gaya districts. These officials were directed at a state-level meeting in May this year to take action in the light of the Tiss findings, but their failure to do so resulted in lack of timely action against the guilty, which has caused "an embarrassment to the department and the government", the suspension order said.
The suspension orders also pointed out that Tiss had flagged anomalies that the officials "did not bring to the notice of higher officials".
Sources said that more heads will roll.
Tiss had submitted its report to the social welfare department in April this year, but no action taken against the NGOs running the shelter homes.
An FIR was lodged with the Muzaffarpur Women police station by Devesh Kumar Sharma on May 31. On June 2, eight persons, including Brajesh Thakur, the proprietor of the Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, were arrested.
Medical reports later confirmed the rape of 34 of 42 residents of the Balika Grih run by the Samiti in Muzaffarpur. The office and residential premises of the shelter home on Sahu Road were sealed by the police.
The CBI took over the investigation on July 29.
