Bihar: Inmate of Aasra shelter home dies in hospital, two others still missing

A day after two women went missing from Bihar's Aasra Shelter Home, an inmate of the shelter home, meant for mentally challenged women, died on Friday while undergoing treatment at a hospital.

The shelter home in Rajeev Nagar area of Patna has been in the news after two girls died earlier this month.

The woman identified as Anamika, a 27-year-old, was brought to the hospital after she complained of breathlessness. Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) superintendent Rajeev Ranjan Prasad said, "Anamika (27), an inmate of the Aasra shelter home, was brought to the hospital in a critical condition yesterday. She had been complaining of breathlessness and was severely anaemic. She died today at 8 pm."

Two other inmates of the shelter home, both in their early 30s, went missing since Thursday and an FIR has been lodged at the Rajeev Nagar police station in this connection, SHO Rohan Kumar said. The Aasra shelter home had hit the headlines earlier this month when two of its inmates had fallen ill and were declared brought dead at PMCH.

Following the deaths, which had taken place in the intervening night of August 10-11 and evoked an outcry, Manisha Dayal and Chirantan Kumar - who ran the NGO entrusted with running the shelter home - were arrested and sent to jail.

Following the arrests of Dayal and Kumar, the Bihar Social Welfare Department had deputed its own personnel at the shelter home for its upkeep as an interim measure.

Moreover, a decision has also been taken by the Nitish Kumar government to phase out awarding of contracts to NGOs for running such care units.

The news of the death and missing of the women from the shelter home has turned the spotlight once again to the growing cases of atrocities at shelter homes across the country.

It may be recalled that the shocking case of alleged sexual abuse and ill-treatment of 35 inmates of a shelter home in Muzzafarpur had triggered a political storm in Bihar.

Besides Bihar, similar cases were recently reported from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. 

In the aftermath of the Muzzafarpur sex scandal, shelter homes across the country are under scanner and the calls for a strict audit of these shelter homes have become louder.