To escort inmates, form a distinct crew.

MUMBAI: The alleged sexual assault of two mentally ill teenagers in a Mankhurd shelter demonstrates the girls’ vulnerability. According to the FIR submitted by TISS counselor Madhuri Ramekar, one of the students was allegedly sexually abused while being taken to the restroom by peon Rajesh Tare during school hours, and the other was assaulted while walking to a water cooler. The counselor told me yesterday that Tare is suspected of sexually assaulting and molesting two females. According to Navnath Shinde, chief executive of the Children’s Aid Society, which manages the facility, I told Ramekar to call the police right away. Most of the 300 orphans who live there are sent to a nearby school for their education. Even though the kids are sent to school with police escorts, especially women officers, the police claim they are perplexed as to how the crimes happened. In addition, there are female peons in the school, thus it is shocking that the accused abused kids in their proximity. The probe has only begun. All of these issues will be covered, according to Vijay Kadam, senior inspector with the Trombay Police. A Bombay high court-appointed committee looking into the state of children’s shelters in the region made the 2011 Panvel case public. The committee, led by Dr. Asha Bajpai, a professor at TISS, revealed the Panvel “house of horrors.” In Panvel, there were no facilities for children with mental disabilities at Kalyani Mahila and Balak Seva Sanstha. Medical examinations revealed that the females had been tortured and raped. A sessions court found six people guilty in the case a year ago. The 18 kids from Thane and all 19 girls who had been rescued from the Panvel house were transported to the Mankhurd children’s home. We waited for the government to offer programs to help these girls get back on track. But when it fell short, we established Chunauti, a TISS-funded field action project, for all 93 mentally challenged children housed in the facility, according to Bajpai. Even better, we assisted 25 children who were doing well to enroll in school on the campus for the first time. They were included in the system alongside typical kids, according to Bajpai. The two females who had been abused were among the 25, and they were nearly through with their rehabilitation. The counsellors’ strong relationship with the children since 2012 allowed one of the girls to confide in them about the abuse, which was described as “a huge setback in their rehabilitation” by the counsellors. It took time and effort to persuade her to provide details. The other victim, who has speech impairment, requires additional investigation. “We will need to create training for school staff,”