26 Girls Missing From Illegally-Run Children’s Home In Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: As many as 26 girls from different states, including Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have gone missing from an illegally-run shelter home in Bhopal.

National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairman Priyank Kanungo, who made a surprise visit to Aanchal Girls’ Hostel located on outskirts of Bhopal, wanted to check the register of the shelter home.

He found out that there were entries of 68 girl inmates, but 26 of them were missing. The missing girls are from Gujarat, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, and some hail from different parts of Madhya Pradesh.

Asked about the missing girls, director of the shelter home Anil Mathew failed to provide satisfactory answers.

According to the FIR filed by police, multiple irregularities have been found in the children’s home, which was being run illegally.

Kanungo wrote on social media that a missionary, who was managing the children’s home, had rescued some street children and was running the shelter home without any licence.

“Most of the girls aged between 6 and 18 are Hindus. After much difficulty, the police have registered an FIR. Unfortunately, the officials of the Women and Child Development Department of Madhya Pradesh want to run the child helpline on contract from such NGOs,” Kanungo said, alleging that those rescued had been kept secretly in the children’s house and were made to practise Christianity.

There were no CCTV cameras in the children’s home. Though it’s mandatory to have female guards in girls’ shelter homes, there were two male guards at night.