Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking his intervention into the allegations of sexual exploitation of minor children residing in the NGO Good News India’s shelter homes across the State.
Pradhan also urged the Home Minister to take exemplary action against the culprits to stop illegal functioning of the shelter homes. He alleged that the NGO has violated the provisions under the Juvenile Justice Act and is illegally operating the shelters at various places in the State.
Pradhan sought Singh’s intervention after receiving a petition from BJP Mahila Morcha State president Pravati Parida.
In her petition, Parida has stated that besides sexual exploitation, the shelter home at Beltikri in Dhenkanal district was involved in forceful religious conversion and human trafficking. She has also alleged that huge amount of foreign funds are flowing into the NGO, which is running 26 shelter homes in the State out of which 15 are illegal.
Parida has further alleged that the State Government has only remained a mute spectator to the blatant violation of the Juvenile Justice Act.