In a shocking incident remains of a 15 year old boy who was beaten to death were found in a Muslim run home. The home was founded by one Maulana Sheik and his son Sheik Abdullah runs it now. He has been accused of killing the boy and a woman after sexually abusing her.
AWISO, a home for mentally challenged children is being run by Sheik Abdullah near Adirampattinam in Pattukottai, Tamil Nadu. More than 20 children reside in this home. Allegedly Abdullah lodged a police complaint against his wife and a few others of swindling Rs.5 lakh from the home’s fund. In retaliation his wife Halima Beevi is said to have filed a complaint with CM’s special cell which brought out shocking details about the home.
Halima Beevi accused her husband of beating a 15 year old mentally challenged boy to death and covered it up by burying him in the premises of the home with his relatives’ help. She also revealed in her complaint that Abdullah sexually abused a mentally challenged non-Tamil woman who sought refuge in the home. After getting pregnant the woman is said to have died and Abdullah handed over her body to her relatives saying she died of illness.
Police officers and revenue officials acted upon the complaint and inspected the home. The remains of the 15 year old boy were exhumed in the place identified by Halima Beevi. They have been sent to the forensic department to ascertain the truth. Abdullah collected funds from inside and outside India to run the home. Even though his The Oxford Trust through which he collects funds, is registered in NGO Darpan portal, it doesn’t have an FCRA license.
In 2010 a Tamil Nadu Tawheed Jamaat(TNTJ) webpage reported that AWISO home was shut down due to irregularities. It operated in a rented building. It was run without a license and no permission was sought from the house owner for it to be used as a home. After complaints rose about its illegality, it was inspected by police and revenue officials in March 2010 and was shut down eventually, if the TNTJ reports are to be believed.
However in 2015 AWISO issued ‘clarification’ that their home wasn’t shut down and that they were actually moving to a better facility. They were building a new home at that time which includes a mosque. They seeked Rs.15 lakh for building the home and Adirai News, the portal which reported it, says they accepted donations from abroad. It is pertinent to note here that they had already spent Rs.55 lakh for the construction of the building spread across 1 acre land. It is unclear how they received funds from Indians residing in foreign countries without obtaining an FCRA license.
Such homes that operate without licence, flouting rules of the Juvenile Justice Act, are on the rise as they fetch money to those who are into activism and so-called social service. A random analysis by NCPCR found that nearly 600 orphanages and children’s homes run by FCRA NGOs received upto Rs.6 lakh per child in 2018-19 as foreign funds. NCPCR’s fair estimation of taking care of a child including recurring charges is only Rs.60,000. This analysis raised alarms that orphanages could be a means of earning money to some and conversion to others. Even in the case of AWISO home, orphans and the economically poor are admitted in a religious organisation which has a Maulana as its chief with a mosque in its premises.
(Featured Image Source: Vikatan)
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