In the wake of news reports that some inmates of shelter homes were sexually abused in Deoria in Uttar Pradesh and Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Odisha DGP Dr RP Sharma, on Monday categorically instructed all Superintendents of Police as well as Bhubaneswar and Cuttack DCPs for a through verification of child care institutions located in their jurisdictions.
According to Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2005, if any person, who is in charge of a child shelter home or the child care institutions assaults, abandons, abuses, exposes or willfully neglects the child shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine of R 1 lakh or both. In section 19 of the POCSO Act, 2012, any person who apprehends that an offence under the act is likely to be committed or has knowledge that such offence has been committed, he should provide such information to Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) and to the local police, clarified the DGP. In order to streamline the activities of CCIs and to check any future incident in the children's shelter homes, DGP has instructed the SPs to constitute a team comprising of officers of Investigative Unit on Crimes Against Women (IUCAW) Integrated Anti Human Trafficking Unit, Special Juvenile Police Unit including woman officers of the district for verification of shelter homes on priority basis and submit the visit reports.