A five-year-old girl, who was allegedly being tortured by a widow ‘rescuer’ at Mainsamunda village under Gopimohanpur gram panchayat, has been finally lodged in a shelter home at Soro in Baleswar district.
Childline officials lodged her in the shelter home on the direction of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
According to reports, the victim, a resident of Jaleswar, had undergone ordeals after the death of her father Shankar Barik and her mother eloped with another man leaving her in sleep along NH-60 at Nandika, two months ago.
Seeing her sitting alone and crying, a passerby, Salama Tudu, a widow of Mainsamunda village, took the girl to her house. However, locals alleged that Tudu was torturing her physically and mentally by asking her to do domestic chores. Then, Childline members rescued the girl and produced her before the CWC. Following this, the child is lodged in the Kanyashram named ‘Purubai’.
The CWC Chairman said action would be taken against Tudu on receipt of a report from the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) and efforts would be made to trace the girl’s mother.