Paree Pain Katha Tie, an awareness drive against sexual exploitation of children, was held by the Khariar police on Monday.
The event included a precession of the Paree Rath, followed by a public meeting. The procession of the Rath started from the police station and proceeded up to the meeting venue accompanied by hundreds of women, men and children.
The meeting was presided over by Nuapada SP Smit Parmar. Other guests in the meeting were PD, DRDA, Nuapada Brushav Naik, Additional SP Mahendra Patel, SDPO Dr. Bebita Manjari Naik, Khariar, Prof Fanindam Deo, Rama Chandra Mishra, Chairman, Khariar Panchayat Samiti Balkrishna Sabar and Chairperson, Khariar NAC Khulana Behera.
The speakers stressed that the main responsibility of creating a safe environment for children rests on the parents and the community. "Most of the cases of child abuses and exploitation are done by family members and relatives of the victims. Thus the parents should take utmost care for protection of their children," said the speakers.
They praised the efforts initiated by the police to create awareness within the society.
"However, there are a lot to be done, like, the police stations should be child friendly and to achieve this objective, the police personnel should be trained to deal with children properly," opined the speakers. The most attractive presentation on child exploitation was made by Shristi Snigtha Pujahari.