Three officials were suspended for negligence in the Bhopal children’s illegal home case, officials said on Sunday (January 7). Chief Minister Mohan Yadav earlier said that the 26 girl inmates of children’s home who were alleged to have gone missing were safe. He had directed the officials to take action against such institutions which were operating illegally.
The suspended officials were identified as Brijendra Pratap Singh Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) (currently posted in Ganjbasoda), CDPO Komal Upadhyay, and Supervisor Manjusha Raj. Besides them, Women Child Development Officer Sunil Solanki and Assistant Director Women Child Development Ramgopal Yadav have also been suspended. A show cause notice was also issued in the matter.
How did the matter come to light?
The matter came to light when National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairman Priyank Kanungo made a surprise visit to the Aanchal Girls' Hostel in the Parwalia area on the outskirts of Bhopal and found that 26 girls were missing out of the 68 whose entries were made. Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan had also made a request to CM Yadav to take action on the matter.
Yadav said that 26 girl inmates of a children's home who were alleged to have gone missing were safe and had been identified.
What did the police say?
Earlier on Saturday, the police said that a case had been registered in connection with the alleged disappearance of the girl from the children’s home.
Bhopal district rural Superintendent of Police Pramod Kumar Singh said that all missing girls were safe and with their families.
On Thursday, police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on the complaint of district programme officer Ramgopal Yadav against Anil Mathew for allegedly running the children's home illegally.
Mathew failed to provide a registration certificate for the facility, and 26 of 68 girl inmates were missing, the complainant stated.