Minor girls sent to boys` hostel as punishment

An NGO based in Madhya Pradesh, tasked with the welfare of minor girls, has been accused of sending the girls to boys hostel as “punishment”.

Zeenews Bureau

Bhopal: A non-government organisation (NGO) based in Madhya Pradesh, tasked with the welfare of minor girls, has been accused of sending the girls – most of them disabled and mentally weak – to boys hostel as “punishment”. The Times of India reported that the matter came to light several months after the NGO started the practice. Bright Star Social Society, based in Sehore, was entrusted with running separate hostels for boys and girls. The matter came to light on Tuesday when a team from the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) conducted raids in the Mandi area of Sehore, located at a short distance from the state capital Bhopal. The team discovered that the girls were not in a stable mental state and were too afraid to talk. The girls were forcibly sent to the boys` hostel next door whenever they committed any “mistake” or complained about poor facilities. "Senior madam would send us to the boys whenever she thought we should be punished for something we had done wrong," one of the girls told the SCPCR officials, reported The Times of India. "We were then made to do dirty things. Often we were thrashed." The SCPCR team also discovered that out of a total 48 girls enrolled only 30 were present in hostel premises on the day raids were conducted. NGO secretary Avanish Jaffery told the team that 18 girls hadn`t turned up since the Diwali vacation. Also, all the 30 girls were found to be stacked up in one room of 11 feet by 11 feet. The district authorities have, meanwhile, cancelled the licence of the NGO to run the hostels.