Childline Urges CM for CB Probe into Dhenkanal Shelter Home Sexual Abuse

Bhubaneswar: Childline, Bhubaneswar on Tuesday requested Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to give order for a Crime Branch investigation into the sexual abuse of minors in the Good News India shelter home in Dhenkanal. It said the case requires a series of investigations starting from sexual abuse of children to foreign links and trafficking.

In a letter, Director-in-charge, Childline, Bhubaneswar, Benudhar Senapati said the alleged incidents of aggravated sexual assault of girls residing in Good News India shelter homes, involvement of the institution authority in converting the children and trafficking of girl inmates have drawn the attention of the people of all segments and brought humiliation to the state.

To ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the state, he requested the Chief Minister to instruct all the district magistrates and collectors to identify illegal Child Care Institutions (CCIs) and hostels and places where children stay through ICPS (Integrated Child Protection Scheme) workers, school teachers and police within seven days as an urgent action. The district magistrates and collectors should initiate immediate legal proceeding against these NGOs/institutions under section 42 of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. The children of these institutions should be rehabilitated in the due process either through family restoration, education sponsorship or transferred to other registered institutions as per suitability.

Satpathy also urged the Chief Minister to take action to impart training to all the functionaries of the CCI within a month. The Collectors may take urgent action with the help of the District Child Protection Units (DCPUs), Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and Childline organisations and take steps to place necessary funds with the DCPUs for the purpose.

This apart, the Director General of Police (DGP) should be asked to issue a circular to depute the Child Welfare Police Officer/designated officer of Mahila and Sishu Desk of the local police station to attend the Home Management Committee meetings organised every month.

To ensure transparency and accountability in the management and functioning of CCIs, social audit of all the CCIs should be done on a quarterly or half-yearly basis so that the management and functioning under the JJ Act and model rules/state rules can be monitored and supervised, Satpathy said.

He also requested the Chief Minister to ensure that no child living in any CCI becomes a victim of conversion. If such an incident comes to notice, the district administration should cancel the registration of the CCI without delay and file an FIR in the local police station.