CUTTACK: Officials of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) raided Cuttack Good News India Shelter Home run by ‘Good News India’ at Shankarpur in Choudwar and rescued 40 children on Friday night.
The raid was conducted on the basis of reports of rerun of the shelter home illegally despite its closure in 2018. The shelter home was sealed on December 7 last year and all the inmates were handed over to their guardians.
Acting on tip-off from locals, the officials raided the home and rescued 42 children from three nearby houses located at a distance of 100 metre away from the sealed shelter home. Two children were handed over to their family after the officials found them to have attended age of majority.
The guardians as well as some villagers had expressed that as the children had their examinations, shelter home’s director Deepak Kumar Parmanik had rented the nearby houses and accommodated the kids.
“I have no idea about the rescued children as not a single child was staying here after closure of the institute in December last year,” said Parmanik when the officials asked him about reoperation of the shelter home in violation of the Government order.
DCPO Pragati Mohanty said, “All the 40 rescued children, including 24 girls, have been rehabilitated in two Government-run shelter homes at Choudwar and arrangements have been made to ensure that they do not face any problems in appearing examination.”
Meanwhile, the DCPO has filed an FIR against Paramanik at Choudwar police station in this connection on Saturday.
As many as 22 child care institutions were sealed across the State following sexual abuse allegations at Dream Centre Shelter Home at Beltikiri in Dhenkanal district in December last year.