Three officials were suspended and three persons of a family arrested after 24 girls were rescued from a web of sexual abuse at a shelter home in eastern Uttar Pradesh's Deoria on Sunday, two months after a similar shocker came from Bihar's Muzaffarpur.
Eighteen inmates of Deoria's shelter home were still missing. The Yogi Adityanath government suspended District Magistrate (DM) Sujit Kumar and District Probation Officer (DPO) Prabhat Kumar on Monday.
Another official, Abhishek Pandey, was suspended, also for not shutting the illegal facility despite orders.
Those arrested include Girija Tripathi, her husband Mohan Tripathi, who operated the shelter home, and their superintendent daughter Kanchanlata.
The police are interrogating the three accused about the whereabouts of the missing girls. The rescued ones, between the ages of 15 and 18, were medically examined and their statements recorded.
"White, black and red cars used to come and take away the girls around 4 pm everyday. The manager would also go with them. When the girls returned in the morning, they looked in pain and used to cry. They feared the madam and kept quiet," the girl alleged.
The case prompted Opposition parties -- SP, BSP and Congress -- to mount attacks on the BJP government that has sought a report from officials within 24 hours. Officials are making arrangement for the girls' stay and studies.
The recognition of Ma Vindhyawasini Mahila Prakishan Evam Samaj Sewa Sansthan was revoked a year ago after the CBI found some irregularities. Funds had also been stopped and inmates had to be shifted to neighbouring Gorakhpur. The government is probing how it was functioning, and people responsible for this.
Adityanath had asked DMs on Friday to inspect all protection homes in the state. Both officials said before their suspension that they tried to act but the Deoria shelter home did not allow them to. Last week, an FIR was lodged against the home and orders were issued to shut it for illegal acts being carried out.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Women and Child Welfare Minister of Uttar Pradesh, said "Chief Minister has sent a two-member committee to Deoria for investigation. They will stay there for a day and submit a report, following which strict action will be taken."
Another girl said she was forced to have sex with a man, and when she refused, she was beaten badly by the madam with a stick. "Those who defied the madam's order were not given food for days till they succumbed to her pressure," said the girl.
The horror comes after the Bihar government suspended 14 officials on Sunday for not acting on reports of sexual exploitation in shelter and observation homes in various districts. Two months ago, reports of 34 girls being raped over a period of time in a state-funded shelter home in Muzaffarpur shocked the country.
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