Patna Shelter : Third Woman Inmate Dies, 2 Others Missing

PATNA: Weeks after the death of two women inmates at a shelter in Patna, a third inmate died on Friday. The latest death comes a day after two other women staying at the state-run facility – meant for women with mental disabilities – went missing.

The 27-year-old woman was taken to Patna Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition on Friday. “She had been complaining of breathlessness and was severely anaemic. She died at 8 pm,” Patna Medical College and Hospital superintendent Rajeev Ranjan Prasad told.

The two women missing from the shelter are in their early 30s and a police complaint has been filed.
Over 70 inmates stay at the the shelter which opened on May 1.

Following the deaths of a 16-year-old girl and a 40-year-old woman -earlier this month, Manisha Dayal and Chirantan Kumar – who ran the NGO entrusted with running the shelter home – were arrested. The police had said that the officials of the state-run facility and Patna Medical College did not inform them about the deaths and went ahead with the post-mortem.

Bihar government personnel were then deputed at the shelter home for its upkeep as a temporary measure.
The Nitish Kumar government decided to phase out awarding of contracts to NGOs for running such care units.

The Patna shelter deaths have emerged at a time when the CBI is investigating the sexual abuse of over 30 girls a shelter home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.