Two of six minor girls who recently fled a UP government-run shelter home still missing

Four of the six minor girls who escaped from a state-run shelter home in Lucknow on Saturday were rescued on Monday and search was on for the remaining two, said

Four of the six minor girls who escaped from a state-run shelter home in Lucknow on Saturday were rescued on Monday and search was on for the remaining two, said an official. Reportedly, during questioning, the girls revealed that they had escaped after being provoked by a fellow inmate.

To recall, all the girls fled within a duration of 30 minutes, dodging security guards. They made their escape at around 2.40am, scaling the shelter home’s 18-foot-high boundary wall. (Representative image/ HT file photo)

“Four girls were rescued from their homes. Two, who did not go to their parents, are still missing,” said Aarti Singh, superintendent of the government shelter home for girls on Prag Narayan Road.

She said the girls were victims of crimes. “We lodged them at the shelter, as their families were unwilling to keep them after they eloped with their boyfriends,” said Singh.

To recall, all the girls fled within a duration of 30 minutes, dodging security guards. They made their escape at around 2.40am, scaling the shelter home’s 18-foot-high boundary wall.

During questioning, they said they had fled to go to their homes. “They also revealed that there was one inmate who had provoked them to escape. The inmate concerned is still missing. She is an old inmate and has a controversial record,” said an official of the UP women and child development department on condition of anonymity.

A government official had earlier expressed concern that had some staff member been monitoring the CCTV camera feed, the girls could have been stopped from running away.

The inmates had climbed on top of empty drums and using a water pipeline for support reached the roof of the bathroom. From there, they crossed the boundary wall fenced with barbed wires. The entire episode was caught on a CCTV camera but, reportedly, no one was monitoring the feed.

District magistrate of Lucknow, Kaushal Raj Sharma, had ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. Besides that, the office of the district probation officer is also conducting an inquiry.