Bihar: Two girls flee shelter home in Purnia, one traced

PATNA: Two inmates of a government funded shelter home for minor girls escaped in Purnia district, around 294km northeast of Patna, on Monday. However, one of the girls was later apprehended by the security guard near the shelter home.
The incident assumes significance in the wake of mysterious escape of seven girl inmates from a shelter home at Mokama in rural Patna on February 24 this year.While six of them were found at a village in Darbhanga the same day, the seventh girl was recovered two days later from Jay Nagar in Madhubani district.
Police said the two girls aged about 15 years were found missing from the Purnia shelter home run by NGO Nari Gunjan. The escape set the alarm bells ringing and the security personnel launched raids to trace the missing girls. However, one of them was caught before she could set out for her destination.
Purnia SP Vishal Sharma said on Tuesday the girls escaped when a woman cop on duty had gone to the top floor of the building for some routine work. She found the girls missing when she returned.
The SP said a special investigation team (SIT) has been formed to recover the girl, stated to be a native of Katihar district. She was lodged in the shelter home recently in connection with a case related to the Child Marriage Act. “We are in touch with the girl’s parents and also her ‘husband’ whom she had got married with against the wishes of her parents,” Sharma said.
A team of senior officials led by DM Pradeep Kumar Jha visited the shelter home and inquired about the incident. “Nothing objectionable was found there,” the DM said, adding the entire incident had been captured in the CCTV camera installed there.
The girl was likely to be produced before the judicial magistrate to get her statement recorded under section 164 of CrPC. The SIT was in touch with her husband, also a resident of Katihar district. Last month, a team headed by DM had visited the shelter home to take stock of the situation.
A police officer said the girl was earlier heard telling her husband to facilitate her release from the shelter home as she didn’t want to stay there. “A missing complaint has been lodged with the Purnia sadar police station in this connection,” he said.
“A team had visited the shelter home in the aftermath of Muzaffarpur Balika Grih sexual abuse case and appreciated its functioning,” the DM said.