Six missing children from Muzaffarpur shelter home traced; seven staff suspended

Police said four children were found near a line hotel in Samastipur, while two others were traced to a relative’s house in Siwan.

Six of the 10 children who escaped from a child shelter home in Muzaffarpur’s Narauli area have been traced, police said on Wednesday, even as action was initiated against seven staff members for alleged negligence in connection with the incident in Bihar.

The police have been conducting continuous searches since the escape came to light on Monday. (Santosh Kumar/ HT Photo)

Police said four children were found near a line hotel in Samastipur, while two others were traced to a relative’s house in Siwan district. Efforts are underway to locate the remaining four children.

HT had reported on May 11 that around 10 children (aged between 11 and 12) had gone missing from a children’s hostel run by the social welfare department in Narauli.

Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police Kantesh Mishra had constituted a special team under the leadership of deputy superintendent of police (western) Shiwani Shrestha to trace the missing children. The team has been conducting continuous searches since the escape came to light.

Taking serious note of the incident, social welfare minister Shweta Gupta visited the shelter home on Tuesday evening and reviewed the security arrangements at the facility. During the inspection, she sought details from officials and directed them to ensure the safe recovery of the remaining children at the earliest.

Seven employees, including superintendent Avinash Dey, house father Niranjan Kumar — the second-in-charge of the boys’ shelter home — and five Home Guard personnel, were suspended on charges of negligence in duty.

During the inspection, Gupta questioned superintendent Avinash Dey, social welfare department joint director Mamta Jha, child welfare department assistant director Abhishek Kumar and other staff members about the security arrangements at the shelter home. She expressed displeasure over lapses in the children’s safety and rebuked officials over the handling of the situation.

The minister also pulled up the house father for allegedly failing to immediately inform the nearest police station after the children went missing. She later interacted with children staying at the shelter home and enquired about their studies, food, cleanliness and living conditions.

Mamta Jha, joint director of the social welfare department, said 36 children are currently staying at the shelter home, while 46 children were housed there before the escape incident.

During the inspection, the minister examined the kitchen, classrooms and residential premises. Locals informed the visiting officials that sanitation conditions on the campus were poor, several lights were not functioning and CCTV cameras were also not operational.

Gupta directed officials to improve the facilities and security arrangements immediately and said better amenities should be ensured for the children.

Suspended superintendent Avinash Dey said the children had been shifted from the Sikanderpur shelter home to the newly constructed Narauli building on April 18. He said several infrastructure-related works at the new premises were still pending and were being repaired gradually. He also claimed that the iron rods on one of the windows were weak.