2 deaf, dumb girls raped by NGO staffers

Two of five orphaned hearing and speech impaired girls between the age of 15 and 17 years were raped, one molested several times for a year, and the others beaten up by some employees of an NGO based in the Kanota area of Jaipur.

These girls were staying in the hostel of the NGO – Awaaz Foundation – while learning to express themselves by speaking to some extent. The hostel warden, a security guard and a clerk raped two of them. One other girl was molested and two were beaten up. Police said the two girls were forced to have unnatural sex also.

The police have rounded up the warden and the clerk for rape, while NGO in-charge, a woman, was arrested for hiding the crime and the clerk’s wife was nabbed for beating up the girls. The security guard had left the job about five months ago and is on the run.

The shocking case came to light when these girls returned to the child shelter home run by the state government in Gandhi Nagar after completing the course and complained to the authorities there.

The state government’s child welfare committee (CWC) investigated the case for a month on its own and then lodged an FIR on Friday evening. The police officers were recording the statement of the children till late night.

Commissioner of police Biju Jorge Josheph told TOI that the victims are in the age group of 15 and 17 years. “They are orphaned, so they live in the child shelter home. The inmates study at various schools in the city. As the victims were hearing and speech impaired, the shelter authorities had sent them to Awaaz Foundation in Kanota area to learn to speak or express themselves properly. About 100 students, including girls and boys, were living in the foundation’s hostel and they used to return to the child shelter home during vacations,” the officer said. Police said the foundation was running since 2007.

These girls had come to the shelter home in the first week of April and lodged a complaint with the shelter authorities. “The matter was brought to the notice of the CWC on April 13. Its members investigated the case on their own and lodged an FIR with the police on Friday,” the officer said.

The police officials were shocked to hear the stories of rape and harassment of these girls. Two of these girls were beaten up for resisting rape and forced to have unnatural sex by the hostel warden, Ashok Prajapat, security guard Mahesh Mali and clerk Suresh Bairwa.

“The girls had even complained about it to the foundation’s in-charge Alpana, a woman; however, she hushed it up. When clerk Suresh Bairwa’s wife came to know about the complaint, she severely beat them up,” the officer added.

src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/NGO-staffers-arrested-for-raping-2-deaf-dumb-girls/articleshow/20115859.cms