Govt to bear expenses on education of sexual harassment victims in Ongole

​Ongole: The National SC/ST Commission member, K Ramulu announced that SC/ST atrocity case is registered against the IERF founder and paster K Joseph for committing sexual harassment on children. He visited the 46 girl victims taking shelter in the Balasadan in Ongole, run by the government along with the District Collector V Vinay Chand and Superintendent of Police BS Yesubabu on Monday.

He said that he advised the Collector and SP to initiate action against the pastor for harassing the girl students taking shelter in his hostel. He said that the parents of the students were poor and from backward and oppressed classes and joined them in the schools and hostels run by voluntary organizations, unable to pay the fee. The pastors like Joseph were taking advantage of the vulnerable students, than protecting them. He said that the relief as per the Supreme Court guidelines would be given to the victims as soon as possible.

The member of the Commission announced that there are 76 voluntary organizations in the district and he asked the officials to supervise their activities regularly and take legal action if found any issues with them. He said that the victim girls in the IERF case would be joined in schools where their parents were living and all expenses would be borne by the government.