Ashram trustee says he handed over children to parents without producing them before CWC as he was unaware of govt norms
Ashram trustee says he handed over children to parents without producing them before CWC as he was unaware of govt norms
Vidyavati Ashram owner Rajendra Gupta admitted to the media yesterday that he had handed over 12 children to their parents in the past few years. u00a0He said he had done this without producing the children before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) members as he did not know the rules and admitted it was a mistake on his part.u00a0
Gupta earlier said all children at his orphanage were orphans. u00a0MiD DAY was the first to report on November 3 about the rape and impregnation of a 13-year-old girl at the orphanage.u00a0
Caught unawares? Ashram owner Rajendra Gupta; Suvarna Pawar,u00a0
district women and child development officeru00a0
These revelations by Gupta came a day after MiD DAY reported that 10 children were not produced before the CWC, before being handed over to their parents, which is mandatory. CWC member Anjali Vipat said that Gupta had assured them he would produce all the kids before the committee within two days.
"A person running an orphanage is expected to know the rules. He can not get away by merely saying that he did not know the rules," said Vipat.u00a0The list of children produced by Gupta had many alterations, and many names were seen erased with a whitener. The addresses of parents to whom the kids were handed over were incomplete and some cell numbers had only eight digits.
Gupta was non committal about when he would be able to produce the children before the committee.u00a0Sources said the District Women and Child Development Officer Suvarna Pawar had been summoned to Mumbai by Varsha Gaikwad, minister for women and child development, after reading reports about the alleged threats she issued to Dr Yamini Adbe.
