The violence and exploitation of the young inmates in Muzzaffarpur’s shelter home for girls is shocking as it reveals the plight of the deprived sections of society. The misery and trauma of the inmates deserve national interest as it refers to the failure of a system.
Rishabh Rajesh is a Lawyer and Child Rights Activist – based in Patna.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he shocking news of the Bihar shelter home for girls where the inmate were regularly sexually abused and tortured has taken the entire nation by amusement. The continued and perpetual exploitation of the little girls in the Bihar shelter home has meant that for years nobody spoke about the grave crime that was being committed inside the home every day until it was recently found out that those who were given the responsibility of taking care of the children had become responsible for their poor condition.
The Muzzaffarpur based ‘Balika Grih’ is reported to have 42 girl inmates who are all minors. It was found out that these girls were drugged, burnt and tortured every day before being raped. The injury marks on the body of these inmates’ shows the kind of brutality that was going on in this home for so many years.
One of the inmates revealed that they were tortured so much that of the girls after being raped was killed and buried in the shelter home. The police is investigating the matter and psychologist are working with the children. Many of these girls have shown aggressive behaviour, they have tried to hit their heads on iron walls to kill themselves, they have been breaking whatever that they are coming across in the hospital and are displaying irritated behaviour. The doctors suggest that they are having this kind of behaviour due to the fact that they have been shocked by what was happening to them and as they come out of the influence of the drugs they are realising what has happened to them.
The plight of the women of the shelter hope came to light after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences did an audit that found out how the girls were tortured. It is thought that once the girls recover, a charge sheet will be filed and the case against the shelter home would be taken ahead. It is paradoxical that a shelter home meant for the care and safety of girl ended by giving them the most disturbing time of their life.
TISS was recruited by Bihar government’s social welfare department to conduct a social audit of the 110 short stay homes for women and girls. The institute had found that there was large-scale complaints of sexual exploitation at the Muzaffarpur home.
It is ironic that little children are treated with such negativity and given so much hurt. The issue must be scrutinized, the people running the shelter home must be held responsible and a program for awareness of people must be created. In a society like India, shelters running for men and women must make sure that they are treated well.
The Bihar shelter home makes us face to face with the brutalities that are meted out to the disadvantaged sections of the world.
