A state government in eastern India says it will start employing transgender people and eunuchs as security guards in girls’ and women’s care homes after a spate of widely reported sexual assaults at the centres.

An audit report of more than 100 safe houses in Bihar state in June accused the operators of a facility in Muzaffarpur city of systematically abusing girls being housed there.

Last week, a security guard was arrested in Chapra, a city north of the state capital, Patna, on suspicion of raping a girl at the centre where he worked.

The incidents have sparked ongoing protests in the state and scrutiny of conditions inside the homes, where women and girls deemed vulnerable – including sex workers, sexual assault victims and trafficked women – are housed on remand or for rehabilitation and job training.

The head of Bihar’s social welfare department told the Guardian the state would begin employing transgender people and eunuchs at the centres in response to the assaults. Read more via Guardian