Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: A racket of alleged flesh trade, similar to the one in Muzaffarpur, has been unearthed at a women protection home in Deoria district of eastern UP, around 320 km from Lucknow, on late Sunday night. Three persons, including the superintendent, caretaker and her husband, were arrested by the district police after a late night raid on the protection home.

The police action came after an inmate, aged 10, somehow managed to escape and reach police station to narrate the series of events and racket being run at the protection home. As per the district police sources, at the time of the raid, of 42 inmates enrolled in Maa Vindhyavasini Mahila Avum Balika Sangrakshan Grih, only 24 were present and rest 18 were found missing. The search operation to find rest of the girls was already on.

Talking to media persons in a late night press conference, Deoria SP Rohan P Kanay said that the girl,10, who belonged to Betia district of Bihar, managed to reach a local police station late on Sunday evening to narrate the irregularities at the protection home. The SP added that the girl told the police that after 4 pm a lot of persons visited the protection home and took the girls along. The girls used to return late at night.

As per the SP, the inmate said that even caretaker Girija Tripathi herself used to take a number of girls out. She added that many dubious activities were taking place in the protection home.

According to SP Kanay, in the wake of irregularities at the said protection home, its recognition had been cancelled in June, last year. "The superintendent had been running it illegally without recognition," said the cop. He added that the caretaker and her husband could not give a satisfactory reply to the issue of missing girls. However, denying de-recognition, the caretaker claimed that it was not cancelled but only suspended and the matter was sub-judice.

CM Yogi Adityanath had already issued orders on August 3, 2018 to all the district magistrates across the state to carry out a thorough inspection of all such shelter and protection homes in their respective districts. He had also issued directives to ensure proper care and security of the inmates. The CM had warned the DMs against any laxity on this account. Reacting to the incident, DGP OP Singh acknowledged that such an issue had come to light and district police were right on job.