An 11-year-old inmate at the Saidabad Home for boys, named Asif, was reportedly killed by another inmate here during the intervening night of January 20 for resisting a sodomy attempt.
Sources said 15-year-old Karnataka-native Rajpal (name changed) choked Asif to death at a store room next to the kitchen of the boys' home as he resisted abuse and shouted aloud that he would tell everyone in the home of what Rajpal was doing.
Rajpal reportedly thrust Asif’s face into an unused sink, in an effort to silence him, till his body became limp.
The supervisor on night duty that day and the one who came for the next morning's shift tried to keep the matter under wraps.
However the news reached the Balala Hakkula Sangham (State Child Rights Protection Organisation) on January 21.
Representatives of the child rights organization immediately alerted the police, but they refused to enter the home as it was against the law protecting juveniles.
However plain-clothes cops finally the home and recovered Asif's body, and his father, Mubeen, was summoned from Nagpur in Maharashtra.
Even as the accused will be remanded in the Juvenile home till the investigation is completed, Shiva Shankar Reddy and G Narendra, both supervisors at the boys' home, have been suspended for dereliction of duty.
“One of the supervisor is also accused of watching Rajpal sodomise other boys at the home,” said sources. He would encourage such acts, and enjoy watching during night shifts, they added. Rajpal was admitted to the boys' home despite knowledge that he was a habitual “predator”. “Home in-charge Padmavathi brought the accused to the boys' home as he was making lives of inmates a living hell at the Kasturba Home, located elsewhere in the city,” said the sources.Meanwhile the Child Rights Commission has appointed one Sukumari to investigate the case by talking to the boys at the home.
Authorities have advised sending away non-orphans to their parents to lessen the trauma they might be undergoing.