How Could You? Hall of Shame-Nepal-Bal Mandir Orphanage UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Kathmandu,Nepal, “a former NCO [Nepal Children’s organization] student and a former NCO employee – identified as Rabin Chalise and Rabin Shrestha respectively – after three minor girls living in NCO´s Naxal orphanage, also known as Nepal Bal Mandir, complained about being sexually exploited.”

“SP Pitambar Adhikari, spokesperson for the CIB, confirmed the arrest of Chalise and Shrestha but refused to divulge details. “Both are now in our custody for investigations,” said Adhikari. “But, we are not yet in a position to divulge any details.”

A team of CIB officials had arrested the two on Tuesday. The same day, the CIB, in coordination with the Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB), shifted the three minor girls to a safe house run by some other NGO. All three girls are believed to be below 15 years of age. They say they had been facing exploitation for a long time but mustered the courage to speak up only recently.

Subash Pokharel, general secretary of NCO, however, maintained that none of the girls living in any Bal Mandir orphanage has had to be rescued in recent weeks. “All the girls are with us,” he said. He also claimed that neither Chalishe nor Shrestha are associated with the NCO. “I don´t know what ties they had with NCO in the past,” he said. “They are currently not affiliated with us. Whether they had any ties with the NCO in the past makes no difference. Whatever they do should not be linked with us.”

However, sources said that Chalishe is chairman of a club of former NCO students and enjoyed easy access to the Bal Mandir orphanages. As for Pokharel´s denial of rescue of the three minor girls, a CIB official involved in the investigation said that the girls are officially still with NCO. “They have been shifted just for the time being,” said the official. “We did it considering the possibility that their continuing stay at the same orphanage might affect our investigations in some way.”

The CIB swung into action after Action for Child Rights International (ACRI), an NGO, drew police attention to the matter. In a statement issued on Friday, ACRI said that initial investigations and medical evidence were strong enough ground for the police to arrest Chalishe and Shrestha.”

Ex-Bal Mandir Employee,student held on rape charge[Republica 6/18/14 ]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:”A court has jailed two men who worked at a prominent orphanage in Kathmandu for repeatedly raping three autistic girls in their care, an official said today.

A judge at Kathmandu District Court found the two men guilty of rape yesterday evening in a fast-track case that has cast a spotlight on Nepal’s massive orphanage industry.

“Justice Pashupati Acharya has sentenced Rabin Shrestha and Rabin Chalise to 16 and a half years of imprisonment each,” said court Spokesman Shree Prasad Sanjel. “He also ordered both of them to give 100,000 rupees as compensation to each of the victims,” Sanjel told AFP.

Shrestha, 43, worked as head of adoptions at Bal Mandir orphanage, while Chalise volunteered as a fund-raiser for the institution. The girls, aged 13, 14 and 15, complained to a rights group which alerted police in June to the attacks.

Activist Salina Tamang, 29, whose group Action for Child Rights International pushed the case, said the verdict sent a clear warning to other orphanage employees against wrongdoing. “We are happy with the court’s decision…I believe this verdict can be a lesson for those working at other orphanages in Nepal,” she said.

The defendants’ lawyer, Ganesh Adhikari, told AFP that he planned to file an appeal at a higher court within a month.

The case underscored the problems facing Nepal’s orphanages, some of which have been hit by allegations of sexual abuse, corruption and fraud in recent years.

Nepal has 797 orphanages, according to official records, but activists claim the actual figure is much higher, with employees passing off children — whose families are cheated into sending them to the centres for a good education — as orphans in a bid to raise donations.

“Many orphanages here are unregulated and unregistered… the government should draw up a serious action plan to monitor these institutions so such incidents are not repeated in the future,” Tamang told AFP.

Police in February arrested the owner of Kathmandu’s Happy Home orphanage on charges of fraud, kidnapping and torture. In August 2012 British charity worker Simon Jasper McCarty pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three boys he met in Kathmandu.”

Two orphanage workers jailed for raping autistic girls [The Himalyan Times 12/2/14 by Agence France]