The police in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district sealed a children’s home and rescued 15 minor girls on Tuesday following allegations that the manager sexually abused the children. Vinod Kumar, 30, the manager of the Arunai Children’s Home in Ramana Nagar, was taken into custody, The Hindu reported.
The incident came to light during a two-day sensitisation programme titled Big World, conducted for the children of Tiruvannamalai. “A child, who was admitted to the Arunai Children’s Home a year ago, alluded to incidents of sexual abuse in her feedback form,” District Collector KS Kandasamy said. “Preliminary investigations revealed that Vinod Kumar had abused the children by showing them films with strong sexual elements.”
The children confirmed to the police that Vinod Kumar showed them clips with graphic sexual content, The New Indian Express reported. He also allegedly masturbated in front of them.
The children have been sent to another government-run institution. The collector told The Times of India that Arunai Children’s Home was the third shelter the district administration had sealed in the last six months. “We have earlier rescued 19 and 50 children from two homes, and arrested five people in connection with the cases, he said. “Three of them have been booked under the Goondas Act.”
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