Sexual assault cloud on Balurghat girls' shelter

TT, Balurghat, Aug. 4: A former superintendent of a private shelter for girls near Balurghat has been arrested after complaints by six boarders that she had forced them to have sexual relations with the secretary of the NGO that runs the home.

Khushi Mandal, the former superintendent, was arrested yesterday. Police are looking for Dilip Mahanta, the secretary of the NGO, against whom charges have been framed under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366A (procuring of a minor girl), 376 (rape) and the Protection of Child Sexual Offence.

Today, Mandal was produced in court and remanded in police custody for 14 days. She has been charged under the same sections as Mahanta.

Sheesh Ram Jhajharia, the South Dinajpur superintendent of police, said a special team had been formed to investigate the case.

The alleged sexual assault on the six girls, aged between 13 and 16 years, at the house of Mahanta came to light after Bhakti Sarkar Laha was appointed the superintendent of the shelter three months back.

The girls told her that they had been forced to go to Mahanta's house and entertain him.

"I joined the home three months ago. Soon, I was informed by some of the boarders how they were sexually exploited by Dilip Mahanta. Khushi Mandal was the superintendent earlier and she compelled the girls to go to Mahanta's house. After I joined, he (Mahanta) would come here every Sunday and demand that some girls be sent to his house. When I protested, Mahanta threatened me with dire consequences and asked me to keep mum. But I could not keep my mouth shut," Laha said.

Yesterday, Laha went to the local police station, along with the six girls, and filed a complaint against Mahanta and Khushi Mandal.

The officer in charge of the police station said: "We have received a complaint from the present superintendent of the home. One of the accused is Khushi Mandal, who was the former superintendent. She allegedly forced the girls to go to the house of another accused, Dilip Mahanta, who is the secretary of the NGO."

The home has around 90 girls, who are either orphaned or come from economically weak families.

A police source said the victims couldn't come up with complaints earlier because of threats from the secretary of the NGO. "They were afraid of Mahanta because he used to threaten them. Recently, these girls had contacted us and told us everything. We gave them courage to proceed. After that, the superintendent and six girls came to us yesterday afternoon and filed a complaint," said the police source.

The home used to receive funds from the social welfare ministry.

Another NGO called Childline said it had heard about alleged sexual abuses at Mahanta's shelter, but couldn't act because of the absence of specific complaints.

"We used to receive information about Dilip Mahanta abusing girls sexually. But we did not have a definite complaint and couldn't do anything. The girls at his shelter are either orphaned or poor. So, they were scared to disclose the torture by the secretary of the NGO. But some of them mustered courage and told Bhakti in detail about the harassment," said Suraj Das, the co-ordinator of Childline.

He said the six girls who had filed the complaints were handed over to the custody of child welfare committee.

Sources said Mahanta, who is in his 50s, had started the shelter around a decade back.

"Dilip's father Dhiren Mahanta was an influential leader of the RSP in the locality. Dilip started the NGO and home around 10 years ago. As the RSP was in power at that time, he could get the approval of the social welfare department to start the shelter. But we couldn't imagine that such things were going on behind the curtain," said a resident of the area, where the shelter is located.