NHRC urged to intervene in shelter home abuse

Bhubaneswar, Dec 5: Even as police quizzed managing director of Good New India, an NGO, Fayaz Rahman after taking him 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.

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

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.

The 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 neighboring states and their whereabouts.

The sources said that three special teams of police have been sent to the neighboring states to trace the 11 missing girls of the shelter home.