The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Keonjhar Collector to submit a report on the incident at the Khendera Anganwadi Kendra in Jhumpura block in the district in which the Anganwadi worker and her helper allegedly poured piping hot water on a three-year-old tribal boy for ‘desecrating’ the cooked food by touching it.
The child sustained serious burn injuries and had to be hospitalised.The NHRC decision to seek a report came in response to a petition submitted by Bhubaneswar-based lawyer and rights activist Prabir Kumar Das.
An Anganwadi worker Subhashree Giri and helper Soudamini Naik of Khendera Anaganwadi Kendra on May 9 this year allegedly poured boiling hot water on a three-year-old tribal boy named Parsuram Munda, considered an untouchable by them, for touching and ‘desecrating’ boiled eggs. The child sustained 40 per cent burns and was admitted to the Keonjhar district headquarters hospital.The police had registered a case on the basis of an FIR lodged by the mother of the child and the two Anganwadi workers were dismissed from their services following an administrative inquiry.
In his petition to the NHRC, Das has demanded suitable compensation to the victim, besides asking the rights panel to direct the State Government to conduct regular training programmes ‘to cure the casteist attitude and approach among the personnel working in rural and tribal areas in Odisha.