Bhopal: The district administration at Sehore in Madhya Pradesh has taken over the hostel run by the Bright Star Social Society, amid allegations that the differently-abled minor girls residing there were being sent to a nearby boys` hostel as punishment.
A team comprising members of the State Commission for protection of Child Rights had visited the hostel located in Mandi area in Sehore early this month, during which, they came to know that the girls were being sent to the adjacent boys` hostel as "punishment".
"The take-over followed complaints that the NGO was sending girls to a boys` hostel as a punishment. The girls` hostel which were being run in tin sheds, have been shifted to a government building," chairperson of the commission Usha Chaturvedi told a news agency here.
Besides this, the district administration has also cancelled the license of Bright Star Social Society to run the hostel, she said.
When the commission team visited the hostel, it found that there were only 30 girls there instead of a total of 48, Chaturvedi said adding that the secretary of the NGO, Avanish Jafri, told them that the remaining 18 girls had not returned from their homes after Diwali vacations.
"When the commission team visited the hostel, the members found that most of the girls were too terrorised to talk. However, one girl told them that they were sent to the nearby boys` hostel and made to do dirty things and were sometimes even lashed," Chaturvedi added.
Another girl broke down and could not utter a single word to the team members, she said.
During the visit, the commission also found that the hostel lacked necessary facilities.
“The team found that all the 30 girls were made to stay in a very small room," Chaturvedi said.
The commission has asked for a report about the "missing" girls from the district administration.
PTI
