Two days after the arrests of the founder and caretaker of a private shelter home for children in Karjat near Pune on charges of sexually abusing the inmates, chilling details have emerged about the alleged crime.
Ajit Dabhokar, the founder of Chandraprabha Charitable Trust (CCT) and his assistant Lalita Tonde were arrested on Monday night after five students of the shelter home approached the police through an NGO. Since then, three more children have come forward with the same complaint.
In their statements to the local magistrate, the children alleged they sexually assaulted by the duo, who even filmed the acts. They were also allegedly forced to perform sexual acts on each other. They were starved and beaten if they resisted, their statements said.
The shelter-cum-school was set up 12 years ago and housed around 35 children between the ages of 5 and 15.
The Hindu traced one of the victims, an 8 year old girl whose complaint blew the lid off the case. While she was too terrified to narrate her ordeal, she gave a detailed account in her statement to the magistrate.
A resident of Pune, the victim and her elder sister were admitted to the shelter two years ago by their mother who worked as a domestic help. When she went home during the summer vacation, her mother felt she was “behaving strangely”. She alerted her employer, a social worker, in whom the child confided. The employer approached an NGO Dnyan DeviChildine, which lodged a complaint with the police.
In her statement to the magistrate, the girls has alleged that she was forced to have oral sex with Dabholkar. She says she was forced to watch blue films and “enact” what she had she had seen with her male classmates.
“If we refused, we were caned or denied food. Some of my friends were made to eat dog excreta and drink their own vomit,” her statement says.
“The degree of torture inflicted on the children is unspeakable,” said Dr. Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe , director of the Dnyan DeviChildine group. “We have recovered the register at the shelter home which gives details of all the inmates and will be recording more statements,” said the S Jadhav, investigating officer at the Karjat police station.
The accused have been booked under newly constituted Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012 and the Indian Penal Code. The shelter home claimed to provide education to children from poor families at a nominal fee. While the trust was registered in 2002, it had no license from the state government.
The NGO has also brought to the notice of the police, two deaths at the shelter home. “In their statements, the victims said an 8-year old boy died at the shelter home around two years ago. Also the relatives of Lalita have complained that her husband died mysteriously in 2008 and his death was not investigated. They suspect he was killed by the duo after he learnt about their activities,” said Dr Sahasrabuddhe.
