Girls were injected with sedatives, some were killed when they resisted

Tiwari found a willing aide in Shyama Singh, the superintendent of the home, who was responsible for the safety of the inmates. She allegedly subjected the girls to an `undress ceremony’ on their first day in the rescue shelter. Her son, his friend, and the son of the owner of the building in which the shelter is located were among those visiting the place for `pleasure’. Shyama and the two officers allegedly courted business and shared the money that flowed in.

According to the police, the Visitor of the shelter, the 22-year old BJP youth leader Vipul Pathak too frequented the home regularly with his friends.“At around 8 p.m. customers would begin swarming the place. About 14 to 15 persons visited the home daily. Shyama Singh’s son Yashwant Singh alias Pintu and Vipul Pathak regularly brought customers and beat up the girls if they refused to entertain them,” says National Commission for Women (NCW) member Vijay Daksh who visited the shelter and has prepared a report. Says a local resident: “Every day we would see quite a few men entering the home, but as some of them even arrived in red-light Ambassadors we hardly suspected anything wrong.”

Pathak’s appointment to the Ramnagar Kishore Kalyan Board and as Visitor to the home is now under a cloud of suspicion. Out of the nine names suggested by the District Magistrate for nomination to the three posts in the Board, none were accepted by the state government. Instead, the government chose three persons including Pathak. Since Pathak’s arrest, the state government has dissolved the Board.

Investigations by the police have brought forth shocking facts about the goings-on in the shelter. The latest is that the girls were being injected with aphrodisiacs. Those who refused would be even given sedatives so that they could not put up any resistance. “Those who would visit the home for this purpose (administering sedatives) were allowed to have sex with the inmates free of cost,” said G.K. Goswami, Assistant Superintendent of Police and investigating officer of the case.

The girls who continued to be `difficult’ were subjected to inhuman torture ranging from physical violence to even murder as alleged by some inmates. Vijay Daksh, in her report, has talked about the murder of five girls in the shelter.

“Rita Singh and Ruby Singh, both 13 years old, told me, that two inmates Shaba and Soni murdered five other girls in the home who refused to offer sex to customers. The two inmates, who acted as informers of Shyama Singh, murdered the five girls between December 3 and 15 last year with a big kitchen knife. Their bodies were cut into small pieces and packed in gunny bags. Vipul Pathak and Shyama Singh’s son Pintu would carry them over to Drum bridge in the city and throw the bags into the river,” Daksh quotes the inmates as saying.

“We have substantial evidences which prove the atrocities inflicted on the home inmates,” adds Goswami. Goswami said that chargesheets are ready and would be filed in the court soon.

Three other agencies besides the police have taken up the matter. They are the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), NCW and the State Social Welfare Department (SSDW). Ironically, the SSWD gave a clean chit to the rescue home and said that it did not find anything wrong.