Nine girls rescued from abuse in unlicensed home

CWC officials said they had taken custody of 5 infants last year too

Nine girl children were rescued by the child welfare committee officials of Kancheepuram district from an unregistered home in Madambakkam on Sunday.

According to officials, Russel Raj has been running the home — Destitute Charitable Trust — in Jaiwanth Puram, Madambakkam for many years with his wife and mother-in-law. The home was run from a bungalow, which also served as Russel Raj’s residence. It was shut down by the social defence department on Sunday afternoon.

“There is no official record of the children who are aged between 8 and 11. On interrogation, the owner of the home said that they were all orphans and brought from Usilampatti as infants,” said Zaheeruddin Mohamad, member, Child Welfare Committee, Kancheepuram district.

“We were informed that the girls were abused during weekends by men. If you look at the home, it does not have a dormitory like set up. All the rooms were air-conditioned with two cots in each. It is also suspicious that he was keeping only girl children and not boys,” said Zaheeruddin.

Licence expired in 2012

The CWC had last year rescued five infants from the same home.

The Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act mandates that children below the age of five must not be kept in child care homes. However, the founder later went to court against the CWC and obtained a stay order.

“The home was registered under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2006, but, its licence expired in 2012” said the District Child Protection Officer, Kancheepuram. On August 11 this year, the High Court rejected Russel Raj's claims and ordered the children to be rescued and admitted in a government-run home. As per the directives of the court, District Collector R. Gajalakshmi ordered the rescue of the remaining children.

The CWC officials have transferred the children to a nearby government-approved home, to enable them to continue their studies in the same school. Officials will soon be filing an FIR against Russel Raj in Selaiyur police station.

“A similar case was reported in a home in Tiruchi few months ago, where girl children were apparently brought from Usilampatti as infants, a place notorious for female infanticide. And one of the girls got pregnant. It is high time officials stepped in and shut down illegal homes in the State,” said R. Vidyasagar, former Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF.