Woman thrashes two kids at adoption centre in Chhattisgarh; video goes viral, FIR sought

A video showing a woman thrashing two children at an NGO-run adoption centre in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh has gone viral on social media, following which the district collector sought registration of a police case and also suspended the NGO from operating the facility, officials said on Monday.

In the video reported to be from CCTV footage, a woman is seen thrashing a girl, holding her by the hair, and throwing her on the floor.

She then lifts the girl, throws her on the bed and continues to thrash her.

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In the video, the woman can be seen asking another girl to come forward and she too is placed on the bed and thrashed.

The woman in the video has been identified as Seema Dwivedi, Superintendent of 'Visheshkrit Dattak Grahan Agency' (Specialised Adoption Agency or SAA), run by Pratigya Vikas Sanstha, officials said.

Orphan children below the age of six years are kept in the SAA. After the video came to light on Saturday, the Directorate of State's Women and Child Development, which supervises the operation of such facilities, was asked to submit a report, Kanker Collector Priyanka Shukla said.

"A team of the state Women and Child Development department visited the centre on Sunday and carried out an inspection and submitted a report to me today. Before that, the NGO has been suspended from operating the centre and local police have been asked to register an FIR against Dwivedi," she said.

In the inspection report submitted to Shukla by WCD director Divya Umesh Mishra, it was stated that the complaint of assault on children in SAA Kanker was found to be true, and it sought an FIR against Dwivedi under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

In the report, Mishra sought the suspension of the NGO from operating SAA Kanker with immediate effect as well as cancel of registration of the NGO.

Mishra, in the report, also recommended disciplinary action against Reena Ladia, District Child Protection Officer.

As per the report, during the inspection on Sunday, Dwivedi admitted the video clip belonged to SAA Kanker and claimed it happened around a year ago.

"Dwivedi said in her statement she thrashed the two girls of the facility as her mental status was not sound then. She also said despite repeated warnings one of the girls used to accept chocolates from unidentified persons while returning from the Anganwadi centre," the report said.

As per the report, Dwivedi apologised for the act and claimed such an incident has never been repeated at the facility.