After Bihar's Muzaffarpur shelter case involving sexual abuse, a similar case has been reported in Kanpur after reports emerged that two girls were found pregnant and one infected with HIV while 49 other girls were found COVID-positive in a shelter home for juveniles.
Two more girls who did not have the virus were also found to be pregnant, officials have confirmed. The information has sent the UP administration into a frenzy, even as officials said the girls were pregnant before they were brought to the shelter home.
The shelter home, located at Swaroop Nagar, has been sealed by the district administration and the staff has been quarantined.
Shelter home girls were pregnant when they came: UP Police
The Kanpur administration has discounted reports that the minor girls in local shelter home were found to be pregnant after they tested corona positive.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kanpur, Dinesh Kumar P. said that the seven girls who are pregnant were already pregnant when they were rescued and brought to the shelter home in Swaroop Nagar.
"These girls are from Agra, Kannauj, Etah, Firozabad and Kanpur and were brought here six months ago when they were already two-month pregnant. Five of these seven girls have tested positive for corona," he said.
Two of the other pregnant girls have been referred to the Hallett hospital after one of them was found to be HIV positive and the other was infected with Hepatitis C.
District Magistrate Brahma Dev Tiwari slammed a section of media for attempting to sensationalize the issue by distorting facts.
Meanwhile, Poonam Kapoor, a member of the UP State Women's Commission, told the media the girls were probably infected with corona after shelter home staff visited a Kanpur hospital with two girls and came into contact with COVID-19 patients.
SOURCES: IANS