Owner of a Christian missionary-funded home in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu Karibeeran Parameswaran, who has been accused of sexual abuse of inmates and facing POCSO charges, got anticipatory bail along with his wife, her brother, and two others.
Following a complaint of sexual harassment and abuse at the Nagai Christian Home, 30 children in the Children Home were moved to another Home.
Nambikkai (Hands of Hope) Home for the Orphans of Tsunami, run by Parameswaran and his wife Choodamani, has been functioning on New Beach Road, Kadambadi in Nagapattinam. There were 15 girls and 15 boys under the age of 18 living in the home.
A girl who left the home lodged a complaint at the Nagapattinam All Women Police Station on February 23. In her complaint, she said that the children in the shelter are being sexually harassed and tortured. The All Women Police Station registered a case in this regard and investigated the matter.
After getting the necessary orders from the court, Revenue Department officials headed by Assistant Collector and Child Protection Officer Uma Maheshwari went to the orphanage, examined the children there, and learnt that the complaint was true.
Following this, the children from the orphanage were transferred to Annai Satya Illam, a government children’s home. After questioning the employees, authorities sealed the Christian orphanage. Police are looking for the owners Parameshwaran and Choodamani, who were absconding.
According to reports, all of the accused in the case were government employees, which allowed them to prosper without getting caught while getting corporate social responsibility funds from Central government institutions and through through Lion Club, Rotary Club etc.
Though Parameswaran was getting funds from corporate companies, he avoided getting funds directly and routed them through the Christian orphanage. It is alleged that a ruling party MLA, who is a Christian and stirred controversy by garlanding the prime accused in the Thirukattupalli suicide case, is extending his support and protection to the accused.
According to a local BJP leader, the wife of Dharmalingam (Nambikkai Home’s secretary), who works as a lab technician in the district medical college hospital where the victims were medically tested, is attempting to manipulate the lab results in favor of the accused. He continued by saying that Parameswaran’s brother-in-law, who works in the district collector’s office in Nagapattinam, is allegedly using his connections to ensure the case is weakened. He further added that Parameswaran ‘s political, social and other connections helped him in this case.
It is reported that the Nagai court granted anticipatory bail to all of the accused in the case.
(with inputs from Dinamani)
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.