Horror inside an Orphanage

NEW DELHI: Inside a dank, dilapidated cloister for orphans in a Walled City bylane, a girl died a lonely death - writhing in pain in the dark shadows of the hellhole before bursts of diarrhoea and incessant vomiting snuffed out her life. The 11-year-old died just a day after she was brought back from hospital.

There was a curt one-liner scribbled in the orphanage records - death due to natural circumstances. But what lay hidden in the footnote was a story that can pull you up in convulsion of horror and shame.

The girl's autopsy report showed she had been repeatedly raped and even forced into unnatural sex for several months. A case has been lodged in the Jama Masjid police station and cops are questioning the orphanage staff and inmates to track down the culprits.

TOI conducted a thorough investigation into the incident and what unfolded was a shocking trail of exploitation and trample of innocence inside the orphanage - where a two-foot wall separates the girls' quarters from that of boys. There are no curbs on movement of kids and orphanage staff.

A student of Class III, the girl has been abandoned by her mother who lives in Rohini. She had been staying here for over a year and studies in the school on the orphanage campus.

The girl had complained of dizziness and stomach cramps after she returned from school on December 23 last year. She was immediately taken to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital. "I remember she was vomiting and had loose motions. It was a regular medical check up. Her condition did not improve," the chief warden of the orphanage told TOI. The next day, her condition deteriorated and she slowly began to sink. Within hours, she died. "We give proper meals to the children and take good care of them. I don't know what exactly happened to her," said the warden. Doctors at LNJP conducted the post-mortem and preserved her viscera. A month later, her autopsy report was handed over to the police. The report confirms habitual sex and unnatural sex.

Delhi Police has been jolted into action and has registered a case under Sections 376 and 377 IPC. Cops are now trying to track down the accused in the orphanage .

Officials said the orphanage houses several male employees apart from teenage boys who easily move in out of the girl's quarters. Officials say they are trying to find out whether she had been lured by the accused or gangraped.