SHILLONG, Aug 8: The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Committee for Empowerment of Women has directed the Social Welfare department to ensure that the six children, rescued from a ‘brothel’ run by arrested BJP leader Bernard Marak at his farmhouse in West Garo Hills last month, are given necessary protection.
The directive followed a meeting that the Committee had with the Social Welfare department on Monday where the matter was discussed.
The Committee’s Chairperson Ampareen Lyngdoh told reporters the panel is concerned about the wellbeing of the minors and wants to ensure that they continue to live a normal life despite the circumstances which they have found themselves in.
Lyngdoh said the committee has been assured that all the kids, who are in some way or the other linked to the incident, are being given necessary protection.
They were rescued by the police on July 22 during a raid at the farmhouse “Rimpu Bagan” located at Edenbari on the outskirts of Tura. Five of them are aged between 15 and 17 years while the sixth is a three-year-old.
Asked if the children were exposed to any sexual activities, Lyngdoh said, “The committee will not engage itself in technical investigations of the case but we are concerned about their welfare.”
They have been kept in proper observational homes in West Garo Hills.
Meanwhile, the committee also discussed the issue of providing compensation to the mother whose two minor children were killed in Nongrah recently.
Lyngdoh disclosed that an initial compensation of Rs 1 lakh has been given to the family and the process of extending Rs 5 lakh as compensation is on.
Another issue which the committee took up was the murder of two married women whose bodies were found on the East Jaintia Hills Highway.
Lyngdoh said the Committee was devastated to know that one of the women left behind ten children, eight of whom are minors.
