3 held for sexual abuse at orphanage

KOCHI: Kothamangalam police have arrested three persons for the sexual abuse of five children who were staying at the Sacred Heart Home Orphanage at Varappetty, about 50km from here.
Kothamangalam circle inspector K M Sajeev said the arrested were Thommi (62) who operated the orphanage, Radhamani who worked at the shelter and her husband Chandran (55) who allegedly molested the children.
Police said Chandran had sexually abused the children – aged between four and nine— many times in the past one year.
He said the orphanage had all documents required to operate. "However, a few years ago, authorities had directed Thommi to reduce the number of children to five as the home had no facilities to accommodate more. A few children, who had parents, were sent back to home while five children, whose addresses could not be traced, were allowed to reside there," the officer said.
The children have been shifted to government-run children’s homes. The incident came to light when one of the girls at the home told her class teacher about the abuse about 10 days ago.
The accused were produced in Kothamangalam court on Saturday evening.