Seven girls, including four minors, escaped from the Swadhar Greh after locking up the lone woman security guard in a room on the intervening night of Monday in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.

Swadhar Greh is a scheme implemented by the Union ministry of women and child development in different districts of the country, targetting the women victims of difficult circumstances who are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation so that they could lead their life with dignity. The scheme envisages providing shelter, food, clothing and health as well as economic and social security for these women.

The case came to light when the Swadhar Greh superintendent Poonam Sahu lodged a complaint at the Lohsingna police station in Hazaribagh district, over 100km from the state capital Ranchi on Tuesday.

According to the complaint lodged in the police station, out of the four minors, two were aged 17 years while the other two were of 15 years. \

While two were residents of Barkagaon in the neighbouring Ramgarh district, the remaining two were from the Keradiri and Barhi blocks of Hazaribagh. The other three women were aged between 20 and 21 years.

One of them belonged to Chittarpur in the neighbouring Ramgarh district, while two others were from Hurhuru Patratu and Tatijharia (in Hazaribagh).

Police sources said the inmates escaped from the main door.