The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Thursday said the Odisha Government has not strictly followed the guidelines for protection of children at shelter homes.
“The State Government has not followed guidelines for protection of children at shelter homes strictly. Concerned officials don’t have proper data on the number of child homes, where they are functioning and who are running them.
This shows their lackadaisical attitude towards the childcare institutions,” said NCPCR Member Yashwant Jain.
Jain said the NCPCR has asked police to carry out further investigations whether religious conversion is being carried out in the shelter homes.
The NCPCR teams on the day started inspection of 56 randomly-selected children’s home in 19 districts in the State in the aftermath of\ the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls at a shelter home in Dhenkanal district.
The Dream Centre shelter home run by NGO Good News India in Dhenkanal, which was sealed recently, was also inspected by an NCPCR team.
District Child Protection Units and Child Welfare Committees also participated in the inspections at their respective districts.
The NCPCR team members also held a meeting with the State Government authorities on the day.
Notably, the inspections were conducted on the direction of Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, who asked the NCPCR to get all the homes inspected in Odisha.
On December 7, Gandhi, in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, had said it is a matter of great concern that the Dhenkanal shelter home affairs only came to light when some girls residing there confided in media and accused the shelter home in-charge of sexual abuse.