Mangalore: Police raid rehabilitation centre, owner accused of ill-treatment
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Feb 4: In yet another raid, police in a late night operation on Sunday February 3 swooped down on a rehabilitation centre at Mission Compound road, Nanthoor.
The raid was jointly conducted by the Kadri police and officials of the women and child welfare department at Ashraya rehabilitation centre owned by Upendra Naik, based on complaints by the public.
It is said that Upendra Naik allegedly assaulted a girl who had tried to jump over the wall of the centre and escape. A neighbour who noticed this called the police who rushed to the spot along with the officials of the women and child welafe department.
Inmates alleged that Upendra Nayak has been regularly abusing and ill-treating them, and not given them enough to eat or drink.
The residents of Mission Compound in their complaint have alleged that at around 8.45 am today, a girl out of the compound wall of Ashraya Rehabilitation Centre located in their locality and ran away. Allegedly, the neighbours followed her, but before the locals could make enquiries with the girl, the managing trustee of the centre, Upendra S Naik, forcibly took away the girl in his vehicle.
The complainants said upon following up the issue and further questioning, the girl revealed that the above official used to mentally torture her regularly, by denuding her, and that she had chosen to escape from the centre for this reason.
The citizens said that a good looking girl had run away from this centre about a year back and that the police had visited the spot and issued warning to the people operating the rehabilitation centre then. They claim that when they had asked the policemen to register a complaint then, they were told to furnish proof by way of video clips.
The signatories to the complaint have urged the police to make discreet enquiries as to how this centre procured a licence to run its activities, and also to provide the inmates of the centre relief from the mental torture being inflicted there.
The 22 inmates at the centre include both men and women, and some of them do not even recall how they came to be there.
The inmates were later shifted to Wenlock hospital.