Tougher norms for hostels, orphanages housing girls in Telangana

High-power panel to chair last meeting on Saturday to finalise draft proposals

Hyderabad: The Department of Women Development and Child Welfare (DWD&CW) is soon coming up with more stringent norms for private hostels and orphanages providing accommodation to girls across the State to ensure their safety.

A high-power committee headed by DWD&CW Commissioner D Divya will finalise the draft proposals before framing the rules. The committee, constituted after the death of a 14-year-old girl who was raped in an orphanage in Ameenpur four months ago, will be conducting the last meeting on Saturday.

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Officials said the committee was meeting every Saturday to discuss the precautionary measures to be taken up in hostels and orphanages. Child rights activists had also suggested a few measures.

Information from officials in all the districts was collected to discuss during the weekly meetings. “We will conduct the last meeting on Saturday to prepare the draft proposals for framing the rules. The same will later to be submitted to the State government for its perusal,” Divya said.

Before constituting the committee, the department had set up another panel, which probed the death of the 14-year-old girl in the Ameenpur orphanage and submitted its preliminary report.

The police arrested orphanage donor and a private employee, N Venugopal Reddy (51), for sexually assaulting the girl after offering soft drinks laced with sedatives. Orphanage warden Ch Vijaya and her brother S Jayadeep were also nabbed in connection with the case.

The incident has also prompted the DWD&CW to crack the whip on hostels in the State. Its inspection teams carried out searches in 376 hostels to examine the facilities provided to inmates.

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