3 adopted girls allege harassment at shelter home, say MP officials

BHOPAL/REWA: Three girls who were adopted from a Madhya Pradesh shelter home by a US couple have told counsellors in their new home state, California, that they were sexually harassed at the home in Rewa, 536km northeast of Bhopal.

The girls, between 4 and 10 years of age, alleged that a shelter home staffer sexually harassed them, according to an official at the Madhya Pradesh women and child development (WCD) department. On October 26, the department cancelled the registration of NGO Nivedita Kalyan Samiti which had been running Aanchal Shishu Kendra shelter home and adoption centre in Rewa. The department official cited above said the process of shifting the remaining children to a Satna shelter home had begun.

Aanchal Shishu Kendra had been shut. District collector OP Shrivastava said, “The US couple complained that the children adopted by them said, during a counselling session, that they were sexually abused at Aanchal Shishu Kendra in Rewa.” Rewa SP Abid Khan said,“we are recording statements of other shelter home kids to assess the gravity of the charge and we may talk to the kids in the US through video-conferencing.”

The girls also have a brother and all four of them were adopted by the US couple. State WCD department principal secretary Anupam Rajan said, “We have asked authorities in other districts to review and counsel the inmates so that such incidents don’t recur. We are also speaking to the staff.”

Meanwhile, Nivedita Kalyan Samiti official Arunendra Singh denied the allegations. “All allegations are baseless. We will cooperate with the agencies,” PTI quoted Singh as saying.

FOLLOWING AN INQUIRY, ON OCT 26, THE WCD DEPT CANCELLED THE REGISTRATION OF NGO