The Prime Minister’s Officer (PMO) has directed the State Government for appropriate action in a case relating to sexual harassment of a blind girl at a Government-sponsored training centre, her subsequent pregnancy and police inaction.
The PMO acting on a petition filed by disability rights activist Sanyas Kumar Behera asked the Pension Grievances Department of the Odisha Government for necessary action.
According to the petitioner, one Reeta Sahoo, a poor blind girl of SC category, who was admitted at the Government-sponsored vocational training centre at the Odisha Association for the Blind, Bhubaneswar for the purpose of rehabilitation, became an unwed mother there.
He further alleged that another orphan blind girl of the same centre, J Rajiyama, died due to abuse by association and centre staffs and her body was disposed of overnight.
“Though Reeta Sahoo lodged a complaint at the Mahila police station, nothing tangible has happened as yet. She is yet to get the rape survivor benefits as per the Supreme Court guidelines. Many other instances of innocent girls students being abused in different TRW schools and orphanage of Odisha have also been reported earlier, but most unfortunately the Government did not take any measures for installation of CCTVs at these places,” the petitioner contended.