The Karnataka child rights committee on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the alleged irregularities at the Madilu adoption centre at the Sri Jagadguru Murugharajendra (SJM) mutt in Chitradurga, people familiar with the development said.
The state child rights protection commission (SCRPC) directed the state child protection directorate and Chitradurga superintendent of police (SP) to probe the alleged lapses of the district’s child welfare committee and district child protection unit (DCPU).
The move came after Mysuru based-NGO Odanadi filed a petition before the SCRPC alleging that the SJM mutt was illegally running the Akkamahadevi hostel for orphans under Madilu programme of the state government for decades.
The mutt registered the adoption centre with the state authorities only in 2018.
The SCRPC was referring to the complaint by social activist Dr MK Madhu Kumar, who claimed a child named Vishwa Bandhu was raised by SJM mutt in its hostel, and gave him up for adoption to Benkikere Suvarna alias Nivedita, illegally.
Odanadi directors KV Stanley and ML Parashuram, in a complaint, alleged that an orphan child, Rani, died due to negligence of the CWC.
The complaint alleged that another 6-year-old orphan girl Chiguru was not registered in the adoption process.
The former pontiff of the mutt, Shivamurthy Sharanaru, has been accused of sexually assaulting at least four minor girls.
Soon after Pocso cases were registered against the seer, the CWC abruptly shifted the children to other districts raising suspicious, SCRPC noted.
The commission prima facie found lapses in discharging duty and dereliction of duty by CWC and DCPU. It ordered the child welfare directorate and Chitradurga SP to conduct a probe and submit the action taken report to the commission within seven days.
“We have found many irregularities in the Akkamahadevi hostel run by the mutt under Madilu programme, but authorities did not initiate action or conduct probe owing to pressure by the influential seer,” Odanadi director KV Stanley said. “Now, the SCRPC has taken the issue seriously and we hope the victims will get justice.”
“I have raised voice against irregularities, violation of norms in adoption and sheltering of orphan children at the mutt. I also complained to the authorities much before the Pocso cases were filed against Shivamurthy Sharanaru. But the authorities did not take my complaint seriously,” social activist and advocate Dr M K Madhu Kumar said.
He added that the guilty should be punished and the victims protected.
