NGO’s licence was suspended in July 2017

DEORIA: Even as horror tales from Bihar ’s Muzaffarpur shelter home continue to make headlines, another sordid saga of abuse of inmates in a women’s shelter home in Deoria, east Uttar Pradesh , was revealed late Sunday night, after a 10-year-old managed to escape from the home being run without a licence for more than a year.The child reached a police station on her own and said that girls from the home used to be taken away in “white, black and red” cars at night and brought back early the next day. Police have rescued 24 girls and sealed the shelter home. Eighteen others, whose names were on the rolls, are missing. Police said their identities have not been ascertained. The home’s manager, Girija Tripathi, and her husband, Mohan, were arrested late Sunday night.The Tripathis’ daughter, Kanchanlata, also an accused, is absconding.The complainant, who belongs to Bettiah in Bihar, told the cops that when the girls returned in the morning, they would be too traumatised to speak but spent the day crying. The minor girl said among other errands, children were made to clean the shelter home and that she had run away due to “heavy work load”.CM Yogi transferred Deoria district magistrate Sujit Kumar on Monday, replacing him with DM Etah , Amit Kishore. He also ordered a departmental inquiry against former district probation officers Anup Singh and Neeraj Kumar and suspended another former DPO Abhishek Pandey for failing to take prompt action against the shelter. The shelter home, Ma Vindhyawasini Mahila Prashikshan Evam Samaj Sewa Sansthan, was being run illegally as the women and child welfare department of UP govt had suspended its licence in July 2017, after the CBI submitted a report alleging financial irregularity against the NGO.