Orphanage sealed after rape of minor girl
Tirunelveli, July 20: An orphanage operating without proper licence was sealed and four persons, including its owner and two women staff, were arrested on Friday, after a minor girl inmate was allegedly raped by a 19-year-old youth, police said.
About
60
children
of
the
home,
run
by
Malarchi
Trust
at
Rettiyarpatti
in
the
district,
were
shifted
to
the
juvenile
home
here.
Its
owner
Prabakaran,
two
women
wardens
and
Muthuraj,
who
allegedly
sexually
assaulted
the
11-year-old
girl,
were
arrested
and
produced
before
a
local
court
which
remanded
them
to
judicial
custody
for
14
days.
According to police, about 60 children, all of them below 18 barring Muthuraj, were staying in the home. The victim claimed that Muthuraj had on July 17 taken her to the bathroom and raped her. The girl said she had immediately complained about it to the two women wardens, but they did not take any action.
Later, when she sought medical help following pain, the doctor found that she had been raped and complained to police. The girl has been admitted to the government hospital here. Acting on the doctor's complaint, police and social welfare department visited the orphanage and conducted inquiries and spoke to the children where some other girl inmates said they had been sexually harassed.
During investigations, it was found the orphanage was operating without proper licence and hence sealed, police said adding that it was receiving foreign aid.
PTI