Maha CM orders probe in abuse at women's shelter

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has ordered a Crime Branch probe into the alleged sexual abuse of women housed in the Navjeevan Mahila Vastigruh in Mankhurd here, a state run shelter for women rescued under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act.

"The Chief Minister has taken a serious note of reports about inmates being sexually abused and forced to live in sub-human living conditions," an official said.u00a0

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan (File pic)

Chavan has directed Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Amitabh Rajan to ask the Crime Branch to conduct a probe, the official said. The Chief Minister has gone through media reportage of alleged abuse at the women's shelter and ordered the probe, he added.

Chavan was perturbed by a media interview of a woman who came to Mumbai from Kolkata four years ago to earn a living and was working as a waitress at a city orchestra bar when police nabbed her in a raid in May and sent to the home. She spoke about the horrors she lived through once there.

On Saturday, around 60 women housed in the Navjeevan Mahila Vastigruh had tried to escape after a fight with the caretakers. Of the 36 who scaled the compound wall, 13 were caught while 23 are still at large.u00a0