This archive report was first published on 22 June 2020.
Published on June 22, 2020, a probe was launched after almost 60 out of 171 vulnerable girls at an under-18s shelter in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state contracted the coronavirus.
India has been grappling with a huge surge in coronavirus infections in recent weeks as the country gradually eases a strict months-long lockdown.
According to Ajeet Kumar, a probation officer in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, 57 minor girls have tested corona-positive at the shelter home.
Many of the girls in such facilities have past or ongoing cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, or instances of elopement and other matters, Kumar explained.
Seven of the girls who tested positive were also pregnant, Kumar said, adding that their pregnancies were already known before they arrived at the shelter.
The girls were moved to hospitals and staff and the remaining residents were quarantined.
Following the positive test results, the state's chief secretary issued new orders to combat the spread of the virus in shelter homes and orphanages, including temperature checks and limits on visitors.
The results also revived concerns about the mistreatment of abandoned and orphaned children in shelters after a wave of sex abuse scandals, including in Uttar Pradesh, in 2018.
