Patna: Police on Wednesday raided a Bal Sudhar Grih (correctional home for children) under Chowk police station area in Patna City after local residents heard children crying. When the cops entered the facility, they found 42 children in the rented accommodation.

The local residents too wanted to enter the correction home - which was being run by an NGO called Safeenah - and clashed with the police when they were stopped. The police had to resort to mild lathicharge to tame the crowd of local residents which started pelting stones, damaging a police vehicle.

The incident happened on Morcha Road in Patna City. At around 8am, some local residents heard cries and wails of children kept at the correction home. People gathered outside the building, at which the Bal Sudhar Grih staff closed the doors. The police were also informed.

"Children facing allegations of crime, vagabonds, runaways and those who have been abandoned by their families are kept at the Bal Sudhar Grih," said Baliram Kumar Choudhary, additional superintendent of police (ASP), Patna City. "The child helpline hands them over to the facility, while the staff of the correction home finds out their addresses and informs their family members."

Choudhary added that father of a 14-year-old boy kept at the Bal Sudhar Grih came from Jehanabad district to take his son away.

"The boy started crying after seeing his father, but the NGO was not ready to hand him over without completing the legal procedures and getting the permission of the Juvenile Justice Board. However, the board was not functioning today due to holiday to mark Bakrid festival. At this the child started weeping and other boys also joined in," ASP Choudhary added.

It was this that led to local residents assembling there. In the aftermath of the Muzaffarpur Balika Grih rape and torture shocker, common people across the state have become more aware of the need to look out for signs of distress in shelter homes.

The Bal Sudhar Grih runs from a rented house and has six rooms and a big hall. Altogether 42 boys are kept there. Its superintendent Vijay Lal Yadav told The Telegraph over phone that the home was opened in April this year and the state government has agreed to provide Rs 50 lakh per annum to it.

"The fund is to be provided in four instalments and we have got the first one so far," Vijay said. "Child helpline called Saathi hands over the children to our shelter and they are kept here. Some of them are accused of theft. We inform all the concerned bodies including the Juvenile Justice Board. The boys are handed over to their families after the board permits."

Vijay further revealed that three boys hailing from Jehanabad, Patna and Assam escaped at around 3pm. "We are preparing to lodge an FIR in this connection," he added.

However, Chowk police station house officer Mitesh Kumar Sinha said that no FIR was lodged by Bal Sudhar Grih officials till late in the evening.

Executive magistrate Umesh Kumar Singh went to the facility and inquired into the matter. He has also recorded the statement of all the boys there and has asked the NGO to submit its papers for inspection.

Late evening, local residents again surrounded the Bal Sudhar Grih.