Why Girls Were Shifted to Deoria Shelter Home Even After It Was Blacklisted, asks HC

Taking a suo motu cognisance of the Uttar Pradesh's Deoria shelter home sex abuse case, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday decided to monitor the case. The court asked the government counsel why police used to send the girls to the shelter home over the last one year despite knowing that it was blacklisted and lost it license a year ago.

The bench of Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma passed the order while taking suo motu cognisance of media reports on the suspected sexual abuse of the inmates at the Maa Vindhyavasini Mahila and Balika Sanrakshan Griha. 

"It seems the owners had got patronage of some politician or a VIP, the court said while referring to the operation of the shelter even though it was blacklisted. The court said girls continued to be shifted to the shelter home and no action was being taken against its managers even though the district administration had received complaints," PTI reported. 

The girls continued to be shifted to the shelter home and no action was being taken against its managers even though the district administration had reportedly received complaints.

Additional Advocate General Neeraj Tripathi, representing the state government, told the court that the Uttar Pradesh government will transfer the case to the CBI as soon as it receives approval from the Centre. The state government has written to Union Home Ministry to transfer the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the court was told.

The court fixed August 13 as the next date of hearing. It directed CBI counsel Gyan Prakash and the state's additional advocate general to ensure that copies of the statements of all the girls at the shelter home are placed before it on that date.

It said that a responsible officer investigating the case shall remain present in court on the next date. The court asked the counsels to inform whether any CCTVs are installed in or around the shelter home. It also wanted to know about the owners of the cars in which the minor girls used to leave the shelter homes, according to reports in the media.

Deoria shelter case came to light on Sunday night when one of the girls, who managed to escape from the shelter home, revealed to the police that a sex racket was being run in the shelter home. When police raided the shelter home, they found that 18 out of 42 girls were missing.