The racket was exposed after two girls complained to their parents, who in turn managed to get reports lodged with the police. However, even as two sons of the owner were arrested following pointed allegations by some of the victims, a concerted effort is on to save and protect the alleged culprits.
Within less than a week of the expose, the home has produced half a dozen girl inmates who were ready to give a clean chit to Saraswati Badhir Sewa Samiti owner-manager Kamlesh Singh Chauhan's sons Shubham and Deepu.
Twenty-one year old Shubham and 23-year old Deepu were taken into police custody last Wednesday following an FIR loged by two girl victims with the local Naka Hindola police station.
The very next day, two boys came forward complaining of sexual exploitation by the Singhs. Some 48 hours later, two more boys mustered up courage to make a similar complaint against them.
Naka Hindola police station house officer Ajit Singh Chauhan, who was more than convinced about the validity of the complaints, got down to recording the statements of both victims as well as other inmates of the home. "We sought the services of an interpreter familiar with dealing with the deaf and dumb, to record their statements, from which it became amply evident that the helpless boys and girls were being subjected to sexual abuse," Chauhan said.
However, to his utter disbelief, within the next four days half a dozen girls including two of the alleged victims did a volte face.
On Monday, not only did they flatly deny the charges levelled against the home and its manager, but two of them even went to the extent of alleging that the were made to sign on blank sheets of paper that were apparently used to lodge the complaint.
Meanwhile, five girls were sent for medical examination on Monday evening, and the reports are still awaited.
District probation officer Vijay Yadav, who had initiated a probe against Saraswati Badhir Sewa Samiti, following which the police FIR was lodged, sounded dumbfounded. "I fail to understand why the girls, who had personally made the complaint, have chosen to deny everything now," he said.
Both Yadav and the policemen do not rule out the possibility of intimidation or allurement by the family of the accused. Sources alleged the involvement of an influential politician, who the family managed to rope in, in the attempt to shield the alleged culprits.
However, district magistrate Anil Kumar Sagar was very clear that no one, however high and mighty, would be allowed to go scot-free in the case. "We are going to record the statements of the other inmates, so that we can get to the truth; but you can rest assured that we will not allow the culprits to get away under any circumstances," he said.
