COVID-19: Opposition seeks probe into UP shelter home, officials say infected girls were pregnant before admission

As the opposition leaders demanded a high level probe into reports, that seven inmates, five of them coronavirus positive, of a government shelter home in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur town were found to be pregnant, the officials on Monday claimed that the girls were pregnant at the time of their admission to the shelter home.

Kanpur district magistrate Bramhadeo Tewari told reporters that in all 57 inmates of the shelter home had been found to be infected with coronavirus. ''Seven girls are pregnant....five of them have tested positive...two are negative,'' he added.

One of the pregnant girls was also HIV-positive, sources said.

The district police chief also said that these girls (pregnant ones) had been brought to the shelter homes from different parts in the state. ''FIRs are registered in the districts, where they were sexually assaulted,'' he said.

The opposition leaders, however, slammed the UP government on the issue and sought a high level probe into the matter.

''It is shameful....such matters are brushed under the carpet on the pretext of probe....a similar incident had happened in UP's Deoria town also,'' Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav said that the guilty must be brought to the book. ''It is a shocking incident,'' he said in a tweet.

As many as 57 inmates of the shelter home had tested positive for coronavirus. Their pregnancy came to light at the time of their medical examination at a private medical college hospital in Kanpur on Saturday.

The entire building, that housed the shelter home, had been sealed.

The revelation has set off alarm bells in the official circles here and brought back the memories of exploitation of inmates of a women's shelter home in the state's Deoria town, about 325 kilometres from here, around two years back.