NHRC Urged To Intervene In Shelter Home Abuse

Bhubaneswar: While police have taken managing director of Good New India, an NGO, Fayaz Rahman on two-day remand for interrogation in connection with alleged sexual abuse of minor children at a shelter home in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district, a petition has been filed in National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking urgent intervention in the matter.

Rahman is also accused of forced religious conversions.

The petition, filed by human rights activists and senior lawyer of the Supreme Court Radhakant Tripathy, on the basis of the media reports, has urged the Commission to direct the state government to take stern action to ensure that no such incident happens in future.

The petitioner has also prayed the Commission to direct the state government to provide compensation to the minor victims of the shelter home, considering their mental state, and initiate exemplary action against those involved in sexual harassment of the children.

Meanwhile, Dhenkanal Sadar Police continued with the interrogation of Rahman at an unknown place for the second day on Wednesday.

Sources said police are trying to elicit details about the manner in which the minor girls and boys were kept at the shelter home, the reason behind visits by foreigners, religious conversions, staff involved in the sexual harassment, reason for sending the minor girls to neighbouring states and their whereabouts.

As informed by the Dhenkanal SP Santosh Kumar Nayak, three special teams of police have been sent to the neighbouring states to trace the 11 missing girls of the shelter home.