An adoption racket in Hyderabad was unearthed as a consequence of a raid by Goan police and childline NGO on Christian children’s home in Goa. A lady by the name Venus Habib who ran the place was arrested on the charges of kidnapping, torturing and assaulting 8 girls between the age of 11 and 12.
Laity of the church nearby the orphanage where some of the girls went, noticed burn marks on them and notified the childline NGO by calling 1098. Vasco police is alleged to have not responded to the complaint of law student Anu Joglekar who made the call to the childline NGO.
A police team along with a volunteer from the NGO raided two flats belonging to Ms. Habib and rescued the girls. 6 of the 8 girls were found with injury marks. The investigating officer said “the accused used to torture the victims regularly and assault them with a belt and water pipes”. They were also branded in their legs and hands using hot knives for petty reasons. Thankfully, medical examinations revealed that they were not sexually abused.
Initially, when the police tried to find documentation related to the adoption of the girls, they couldn’t find any. A team went to Andhra Pradesh to investigate the origin of the girls. The Hindu reported Sub Inspector Ritesh Tari as saying, “The police team is visiting Andhra Pradesh to find out if the accused adopted the girls or bought them from their parents.”
But a Telangana man who supposedly supplied the babies to Habib has been arrested and the police suspect that they might have stumbled upon an adoption racket. The name of the orphanage hasn’t been mentioned in any MSM report. But data shows that Venus Habib is associated with a UK based charity, Yashua Sanctuary.