Asha Kiran Home, built for mentally retarded children in Delhi, is now becoming a death chamber for the children. Exclusive documents obtained by Aaj Tak have revealed that 27 children have died here in the last 7 months. Whereas in July, 13 children died. The surprising thing is that the administration is not even ready to talk on such a serious issue of Asha Kiran. Whereas the cause of death has been said to be lack of proper arrangement for child care and drinking water.
Delhi Minister Atishi has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the death of Asha Kiran. In the documents that Aaj Tak has got, there is a clear mention of how people died month after month. The most shocking thing is that in the month of July itself, 13 children died within 20 days.
There have been consecutive deaths this year in which – 3 in January, 2 in February, 3 in March, 2 in April, 1 in May, 3 in June and 13 in July. Whereas in the year 2023, a total of 13 people died between January and July. Asha Kiran administration is not ready to talk on such a serious issue. On the other hand, Rohini SDM has got information about the matter, in an exclusive conversation with Aaj Tak, he told that the news of deaths in Asha Kiran is true.
Is this why deaths are happening?
Retarded children and adults are kept in Asha Kiran Home located in Sector 3 of Rohini. It is claimed that they are well looked after here. But the mysterious deaths occurring here in the last few years raise many questions.
According to the confirmed news received by Aaj Tak from sources, mentally disturbed people are not looked after properly in this Asha Kiran Home run by Delhi Government. They lack facilities. Perhaps this is the reason why we tried to talk to the administration here. So no one was ready to talk. The question is whether an attempt is being made to hide the deaths happening here.
Deaths have occurred here before too
Similar deaths had occurred many times before, and there was a lot of commotion then. Action was taken against the officers. Earlier there were one or two or maximum 10 deaths. But this time the matter is of 13 deaths within a month. However, the reason being cited is that the post-mortem report has not been received. But the SDM also believes that the cause of death could be bad water. However, now it is said that the arrangements at Asha Kiran Home are fine.
In a government institution which is expected to work for the welfare of the people, such incidents create a scary situation. Although there is talk of action being taken regarding the death of children, it is true that action will be taken against the culprits, but only those children whose death is due to negligence. They cannot come back. And can the administration guarantee that no child will die like this in future?
Women’s Commission became active
National Commission for Women Chairperson Rekha Sharma said regarding the deaths in Asha Kiran, ‘We are sending a fact finding team to the spot. The team will meet all the officials responsible for the deaths of mental health patients. Who are the people who have been given the responsibility of running these shelters? Shouldn’t such patients stay in hospital? We are also auditing the night shelters run by the Delhi government.
AAP targets BJP
On the issue of mysterious deaths in Delhi’s Asha Kiran, Delhi Minister Gopal Rai said, ‘BJP is coming to protest but it did not go to Mayur Vihar to protest on the death of mother and son, it ran away and reached Asha Kiran because they did not know. That is, it comes under Delhi Government. The concerned ministers are closely monitoring this matter. The guilty people will not be spared. Delhi government stands with the people.