Woman officer to probe Thane orphanage assault case

Appoint a woman police officer to investigate the alleged sexual abuse case of two disabled girls at Thane’s orphanage, the Bombay High Court directed the state on Thursday.

Appoint a woman police officer to investigate the alleged sexual abuse case of two disabled girls at Thane’s orphanage, the Bombay High Court directed the state on Thursday.

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A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and justice DY Chandrachud issued the directive in the wake of last year’s amendment in the Criminal Procedure Code.

The amendment says that in cases of alleged sexual assault, woman police officers and prosecutors should be preferred, and if possible the trials involving allegations of rape should also be conducted before a court presided over by a woman judge.

Recently, the Child Welfare Committee, Thane, rescued 18 inmates of Kavdas Orphanage, where five of them have died since April, either due to severe malnutrition or diseases related to malnutrition.

Later, the committee found that the caretaker of the orphanage had allegedly sexually abused two of the girls.

The girls are admitted to the KEM Hospital for psychiatric treatment.

Other inmates of the orphanage have been transferred to the Ulhasnagar government children home and a private orphanage at Airoli in Navi Mumbai.