Express News Service : New Delhi, Tue Feb 14 2012, 05:23 hrs

Arya orphanage Chairman Viresh Pratap Chaudhary on Monday dismissed the allegations of sexual abuse at the orphanage as baseless and said the NGO, Haq: Centre for Child Rights, had no locus standi in the matter.

The Haq Foundation had prepared their report after a 12-year-old was allegedly raped by a 14-year-old boy at the orphanage. The girl later died at a hospital. Chaudhary said there was vested interest in preparing the report.

The orphanage authorities broke their silence a day after Delhi Police lodged another FIR against the accused for sodomising a 12-year-old six months ago. Police sources said the mother of the child had allegedly complained to the orphanage but no action was taken.

"I don't understand why Haq Foundation has levelled such baseless accusations against us. Who is Haq Foundation to do an inquiry?" said Chaudhary.

He said that he had not received either Haq Foundation's report or the post-mortem report of the girl and said she had not been raped on the orphanage premises. "The rape did not happen here . We cannot comment anything more as we haven't got the post-mortem report."

He said the institution was being branded a "hell-hole", but it had been commended by officials of the state's Child Welfare Committee for doing a good job. "How can you call this a hell-hole when we are constructing a building to accommodate 1,000 children at the cost of Rs 40 crore?" he said.

Reacting to reports that children had confessed of sexual abuse to the police he said, "No child has confessed. The police are taking confessions by force. They are desperate to find evidence because the boy hasn't confessed yet."

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