Sambalpur: The district administration has shifted the inmates of ‘Samartha’ rehabilitation centre in Odisha’s Sambalpur, a few days after police arrested its secretary for their torture.
According to sources, total 42 inmates of the centre, including 15 women and 27 male, were accommodated in the government-run Integrated Infrastructure Complex in Baijamunda of the city. The NGOs, ‘Parichaya’ and ‘Sambala’, have been assigned the responsibility of taking care of the inmates.
While some of the inmates have expressed their desire to go back to their homes, the condition of all of the them was found to be stable after medical examination, said a member of ‘Sambala’.
The torture of the Samartha rehabilitation centre came to light after one of its former employee lodged a police complaint. He had mentioned in his complaint about the unhuman condition in which the inmates were living and also downloaded a video on social media.
He said the female inmates were bathed naked along with the male inmates by the caretakers in the presence of the organisation’s secretary Haris Chandra Dash.
The Samartha staff were also beating up the inmates for no reasons and serving stale food of three days. The inmates were also administered overdose of medicines and injections which resulted in death of some of them, the former employee, who worked in the organisation for two months, alleged.
Even the relatives were not allowed to take the inmates to their houses. If anybody insisted, the inmates were tortured and the relatives could hardly know about it, he added.
A female inmate had also filed a sexual assault case against the secretary. She alleged that she fell asleep after taking pills given by the centre staff and then found herself in an inappropriate state. After four months, she discovered she was pregnant. The secretary forced her to abort the child, according to a report of TOI.
IG (northern range) Himanshu Lal on Thursday said the secretary would be brought on remand for investigation.
Also Read: One Arrested For Torture Of Inmates Of Home For Mentally Challenged In Odisha’s Sambalpur
