Representative image

CHENNAI: Several girls of a government authorized home in Tiruvannamalai were sexually assaulted for years. They were also photographed and videographed by the home manager, the victims, aged between 6 and 17 years and rescued two months ago, told Tiruvannamalai district authorities.

The shocking disclosure was made by the victims to the district child protection officer, D Kokila, when she accompanied collector K S Kandasamy during an inspection at three homes registered under the Juvenile Justices Act.

The victims rescued from Mercy Adaikalapuram Missionary Home for Children said they were videographed and photographed, Kandasamy told TOI. “We checked the home’s computer, but there was no evidence. We suspect it was deleted. We are waiting for police to retrieve the lost data,” he said. Tiruvannamalai Superintendent of Police M R Sibi Chakravarthy said the hard disk seized was in the custody of the mahila court and police would obtain the court’s permission to send it to a forensic laboratory to retrieve data.

Authorities failed to regularly check well-being of kids

The authorities had sealed three homes and rescued 88 children, 77 girls and 11 boys, over the last six months. Most of the orphaned girls, in the 14-17 age group, had been sexually assaulted repeatedly for years. “The girls were videographed and photographed while they were bathing. None of the bathrooms in the homes had doors,” the Tiruvannamalai probationary officer said, quoting the traumatized girls rescued from the Mercy Adaikalapuram Missionary Home for Children in November 2018.

Luban Kumar, 65, a retired teacher who ran the home, installed CCTV cameras in rooms, in the hall and the verandah. Luban, his wife Mercy Rani, 55, and her brother Justin Manavalan, 50, were booked under the Pocso Act and IPC and also under the Goondas Act.

When the girls complained against Luban for sexually abusing, his wife and her brother beat them, the officer said.

The home has been functioning for more than eight years and the children were sexually assaulted repeatedly. “It went unnoticed as authorities failed to conduct periodical checks or make inquiries about their well-being,” said child rights activist and former Kancheepuram child welfare committee member Zaheeruddin Mohamed.

Orphans and not children of single parents in these homes were targeted for a long time, said the probationary officer. During Tuesday’s inspection at Arunai home for children, a laptop and desktop were seized. G Vinod Kumar, manager, was booked under sections 354 (A) of IPC read with 8, 11, 21 (2) of Pocso Act 2012. “He forced the girls to watch pornography films and forced them to enact it,” said an official who spoke to a 17-year-old girl.

Officials said girls rescued from Rainbow Home four months ago were also sexually assaulted. “The home was permitted to accommodate nine children, but it had 23, including 11 boys. Boys and girls in adolescent age should not be kept on the same premises,” said the probationary officer. Two of the boys were arrested under Pocso Act for sexually abusing the girls. Those running the home were also arrested.

Read full story in Bengali

