A 13-year-old orphan from a remote Himachal Pradesh village who was sexually exploited by her maternal uncle, has given birth to a girl.
The girl was brought to a hospital in Shimla by activists last week. The matter came to fore Saturday after the High Court directed the state government to book her maternal uncle and create a “foolproof system of 24X7 care for the minor and her child, besides exploring possibilities of her education at a local school later.
The girl and her 16-year-old sister had been living with their uncle after the death of their parents.
Moved by the plight of an orphaned girl, a Tibetan charity run by a disciple of the Dalai Lama showed interest in adopting them. Tibetan monk Jamyang, who is running charity Tong-len Charitable Trust on the outskirts of Dharamsala offered to take care and education of both the girl and the child.
Tong-len Charitable Trust was started in 2005 with 20 children and now has 85 boarders, including five children below five years of age, in three hostels. The charity looks after schooling and hostel facilities of the ‘adopted’ children, whose parents are not taking care of them. It’s being funded by the Dalai Lama Trust.
