BHUBANESWAR: ‘GOOD News India’ - an NGO that was banned by the Odisha government for sexual harassment and illegal religious conversion of inmates in 25 orphanages run by it in 2018 - is allegedly operating 24 residential homes for orphaned and destitute children across the state now.
While none of these facilities have been registered under the Juvenile Justice Act, it appears prima facie that the NGO was also illegally converting children, alleged chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Right (NCPCR) Priyank Kanoongo here on Tuesday.
Following a tip off about the NGO back into operation in Odisha, the NCPCR chairperson and member secretary Rupali Banerjee Singh along with officials of state Women and Child Development department raided its headquarters at Anantapur in Phulnakhara. The four-storey building had a transit home for children, a church and a prayer hall.
“In 2018 when allegations of sexual abuse, illegal detention and conversion of children in the orphanages named Good News India Dream Centres were made, nine teams of NCPCR along with WCD department officials had investigated the incidents. Subsequently, the Odisha government informed us that all the orphanages run by the NGO were closed down.
But recently we were tipped about this NGO actively running residential centres in the state” Kanoongo said. During questioning of the NGO’s employees, they reportedly revealed it currently has 30 orphanages in West Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh and the majority of 24 orphanages are in Odisha with 3,000 children in them.