Police Rescue 2 Adopted Children ‘Tortured’ By Couple In Odisha’s Dhenkanal

Dhenkanal: Police have rescued two children from alleged torture by a couple who had adopted them in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.

According to sources, 6-year-old Janaki Sahu and her 5-year-old brother Ashu Sahu belonging to Sarang village under Parjang police limits lost their mother 8-9 months back. Since then, they had to sustain themselves with assistance from others or begging.

As their father Kalia Nayak is an alcoholic and did not have any steady source of income, they used to roam around in search of food. A few months back, Arjun Kumar Nayak, a villager of Damola came across the children moving on their own on roadside. When he enquired from them, Janaki and Ashu told him about their condition.

Arjun took the children with him and took care of them. Later, he told the villagers about them and wanted somebody to adopt the children. A young couple of the village, Ajay Sahu and Sukanti Sahu expressed their interest in adoption. After going through due process of law, Ajay and Sukanti adopted Janaki and Ashu with consent of their father.

But a few days back, Arjun found Janaki and Ashu in bad condition on the road. “I could know that Ajay and his wife were not taking good care of their adopted children. From other villagers, I gathered that the couple were not sending the children to school and were engaging them in household chores. Besides, they were scolding and beating the children.”

Since the children were legally adopted, Arjun informed the officials about their condition. On being informed about the children, deputy collector of Kamakhyanagar Jyoti Shankar Sahu directed Parjang police to take necessary action.

A team from Parjang police station went to Ajay’s house and found the children hiding in bathroom. The police rescued the children and sent them to the community health centre (CHC) at Parjang for medical check-up.

The deputy collector said he has taken a serious note of the torture of the children and has order a probe into the matter. Stern action would be taken against whoever is responsible for this, he added.