15-Day Awareness Campaign Against Child Sexual Abuse From Tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has been witnessing numerous incidents of sexual abuse, involving children as young as two months, in the past few months. In National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data revealed last year, Odisha ranks fourth in the list of worst rate and crime numbers under Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

To create awareness against such crimes in the state, Odisha police, in association with United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), will launch a 15-day campaign ‘Paree Pain Katha Tiye’, from May 28 to June 12.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will flag off 15 ‘Paree Express’ vans decorated and designed especially for this event, from Bhubaneswar on Monday. These vans led by their Superintendent of Police and District Collector, will travel all 30 districts and return to the Odisha capital on June 12 for the concluding ceremony.

Each of these vans, equipped with an LCD screen, will have four officers and men from the district police. They will move across the charted route map, touching the most vulnerable pockets. “During each halt, public meetings and cultural events will be organized. These awareness meetings will be followed by film screenings, folk performances by trained troupes, and a dialogue with the community,” said DGP Dr. R P Sharma at the press conference on Sunday.

The official logo and song for the ‘Paree’ campaign was unveiled this morning.

The DGP said the key objective is to spread awareness among communities, families and parents. “Child sexual abuse can be prevented and everyone in a child’s family has an important role in it. The campaign will also stress the need to report cases and inform people about the laws and punishments for child sexual abuse,” he added.

Sharma further said that in 95% of the cases registered, the culprit is a known person and, therefore, usually arrested within 24 hours. “The matter of concern, is increasing the conviction rate,” he added.

While the DGP will be supervising this campaign, IG Police (HQs) Asheet Kumar Panigrahi has been appointed as the State Nodal Officer to coordinate and monitor it.

Emphasising on the mental health of the victims, UNICEF Odisha’s Chief field officer, Yumi Bae said such incidents affect the overall growth of a child. “It has a deep impact on their mental health. Girls often do not share the incidents with their parents and when boys are a victim of sexual assault, things get worse. It is not even a crime for a lot of people,” she added.

IG, Crime Branch, Arun Bothra urged all media houses to spread the word on social media so it reaches to as many people as possible. You can follow the campaign on Facebook (Odisha-Police-Organization), Twitter (DGPOdisha, odisha_police). Hashtags #SaveParee and #ENDviolence can also be used.