Childline activist named in sexual abuse case in KGF

Children’s home official lodges police complaint

The Superintendent of the Balamandira (children’s home) at Maskam in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) on Saturday lodged a complaint with the Andersonpet Police against a woman alleging that she had connived with an offender in a case of sexual abuse of a minor girl, an inmate of the balamandira. The accused woman, Manjula, is an activist of Childline, a Centrally-sponsored project.

In the complaint, the Superintendent has said that the girl became pregnant after she was taken away from her relative’s house by Manjula on the pretext of getting signatures on certain documents.

The girl, found by the police on June 12, 2012 at Bangarpet, said to be an orphan, was given shelter in the children’s home. Later, the officials traced her relatives and handed her over to them in January this year.

However, Manjula visited the house of the relatives of the girl and took her with her saying that some formalities had to be completed. But, instead of returning the girl to her relatives, Manjula allegedly left her with a man at Whitefield in Bangalore.

The girl was brought back to the balamandira by Manjula two weeks ago saying that she was an orphan.

The fact that the girl was pregnant came to light when she was subjected to a regular health check-up. Based on the statement given by the victim, the Superintendent lodged the complaint. Manjula has been named accused no 2 in the FIR, while accused no 1 is yet to be identified. Police are investigating.

Meanwhile, Childline’s Executive Director Mathews Philip and Coordinator P. Susairaj Babu said, “The Childline is not responsible for any activities of its staff members except for the official tasks assigned to them.”

In a release on Monday, they said, “We are not aware of Manjula’s whereabouts.”

The Childline has said that Manjula was appointed based on her performance in the field and there was no ground to check her antecedents. However, the release added, “we will initiate action against her if she is found guilty.” It also demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident.