Sexually abused and their complaints hushed, 50 girls were kept in a pitiable condition in a missionary home in Tamil Nadu. Thanks to the efforts of an IAS officer, they have finally been rescued.
KS Kandasamy, the district collector of Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, was informed that the Mercy Adaikalapuram Missionary home in his jurisdiction, was violating government regulations. Soon after, he set off for the home to check its functioning, and what he saw there was nothing less than a shock for him.
The infrastructure was very poor and had no doors in the bathroom. There were children from 5 to 22 years and was supervised by a male guard. When Kandasamy discovered that 65-year-old Luban Kumar, the director of the home, also resided in the same building with his family, he got suspicious and initiated an inquiry. and yet there was no room to change dresses. The girls were forced to change the clothes in the hall.
“Luban Kumar had purposely removed the doors of all the bathroom stalls where the girls bathed,” he told The News Minute, adding that “His room was attached to this bathroom and he would open a window to see the girls showering. In addition to this, he had set up a CCTV camera in the hall where they changed and would watch from his room.”
When a girl gathered the courage to speak about it to Luban’s wife Mercy, she ordered Luban’s brother to beat up the girls till they promised to keep mum.
Upon hearing this, Kandasamy shifted all the girls to a government home. When they were confident about being in a safe place, they opened up the IAS officer. Amongst other things, Luban Kumar would also ask the girls to come to his room at night and made them give him “a massage.”
The collector immediately lodged a complaint against Luban Kumar, Mercy and Luban’s brother, at a police station in Tiruvannamalai, under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). Subsequently, the missionary home was also sealed.
