Children’s home operating without licence sealed

Officials of the department of social welfare rescue 16 children; some allege sexual abuse by caretakers

A children’s home operating without a licence was sealed at Vijayanagaram in Vengaivasal on Thursday by the department of social welfare.

The officials rescued 16 children, including seven girls, from ‘Vallalar Gurukulam’ run by an individual, based on a petition to the Child Welfare Committee. The children were transferred to a nearby government-approved home.

Prior to the closure, Sholinganallur tahsildar D. Ravichandran, district social welfare officer G. Sarguna, child welfare committee member Zahiruddin Mohamed, and district probation officer P. Ekambaram conducted a preliminary enquiry on Wednesday and Thursday with the children and parents about reports of child abuse. During the investigations, some of the children alleged sexual abuse at the hands of the caretakers.

Ms. Sarguna told

The Hindu that the complainant had reported sexual abuse and poor living conditions inside the home. “Moreover, homes for children should be licensed as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, but the founder did not possess any licence to provide care for children,” she said.

During the inquiry, the children raised complaints of ill-treatment, including use of abusive language. “We submitted the report to the district collector yesterday, who in turn ordered the closure of the home with immediate effect. We sealed the home as they did not comply with the norms,” said Ms. Sarguna.

Mr. Zahiruddin Mohamed said they would submit a compliance report to the district collector and file a police complaint of child abuse against the founder of the home.

Founder-trustee of the home, R.B. Vinoth, said that children, including orphans, those with single parents and those from economically backward families, had been provided shelter and education at the home. Stating that he had been running the home for the past ten years, he alleged that some vested interests had acted against him.