The State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) has ordered a probe into the alleged sexual abuse of two minor girls by their stepfather in Pedapadu mandal in Eluru district, and the failure of the Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) and Medical and Health Department staff in the case.
A 17-year-old girl delivered a female baby in 2021, and her 16-year-old sister had an abortion last year. The victims’ stepfather had impregnated them with the help of their mother. The couple were arrested by Eluru district Disha Mahila Police a few days ago. The accused had been sexually abusing the two girls for the last five years.
The elder girl conceived when she was 13 years old, and was made to undergo abortion. The younger girl became pregnant in 2021, when she was studying in tenth class, and delivered a stillborn baby in October, 2022.
The accused woman had two daughters through her first husband, who died of ill-health in 2007. Later, the woman underwent a family planning operation. After four years, she married another person, who insisted on having children, and started torturing his wife. Unable to bear the harassment, she asked him to have children through her minor daughters, and reportedly encouraged him, said the SCPCR Chairman, Kesali Appa Rao.
Speaking to The Hindu on Thursday, he said the couple performed the abortions and the delivery at home. They threw the stillborn male baby into a canal. Though the stepfather had been exploiting the two minor girls for the last five years, the Anganwadi and Asha workers and the staff of the Integrated Child Development Services (CIDS) of the WD&CW Department had failed to notice the inhuman act.
“According to the sources, the family availed YSR Poshana Scheme (aimed at supplying nutritional diet for pregnant women by the government) by enrolling the name of their grandmother as the baby’s mother in the records in the local Anganwadi Centre. But the Anganwadi ayah and supervisor failed to notice it. The local ANM allegedly issued a birth certificate of the baby stating that it was an institutional delivery (though the delivery was performed at home),” Dr. Appa Rao said.
The accused stepfather, a taxi driver, stopped sending the girls to school after they became pregnant and tortured them. He reportedly kept the relatives away and threatened the girls not to reveal about his behaviour to outsiders. The two victims were mentally disturbed and need proper counselling, he said.
“The incident highlights the corruption, misuse of government schemes and the failure of the system. How can the Anganwadi ayahs fail to identify a pregnant woman? Why did the ANM and the doctors of the local Primary Health Centre (PHC) enrol the grandmother’s name as the baby’s mother?” he wondered.
The inhuman act of the stepfather came to light when the younger girl revealed the matter to her relatives, who then lodged a complaint with the police.
The SCPCR has directed the officers concerned to submit the details of the case to the Commission, and inquire into the issuance of the fake berth certificate and other irregularities in the case, he said.
