SAMBALPUR: In a bid to strengthen child protection, the Northern Range headquarters of Odisha Police has issued detailed guidelines for the formation of ‘Ama Police Samiti’ across five districts in western Odisha.
Issued by IG (Northern Range) Himanshu Lal, the guidelines seek to address growing concerns related to child marriage, labour, trafficking, abuse and neglect. Lal recently issued a letter to the SPs of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Balangir, Jharsuguda and Sonepur with directions to ensure implementation of the guidelines by all police stations in their respective jurisdictions
The letter stated that children in western Odisha remain particularly vulnerable due to factors such as migration, mining activities and socio-economic challenges. Citing NFHS-5 data, it noted that 20.5 per cent of girls in Odisha are married before attaining adulthood, with higher prevalence reported in tribal-dominated and western districts.
Conceived as a community-police partnership platform, the Ama Police Samiti will also enhance local security and protect vulnerable groups, including women and senior citizens. The committees will support police through awareness campaigns, community engagement, monitoring of suspicious activities and efforts to curb social evils.
The guidelines call for creation of databases of vulnerable children, monitoring of marriages through village registers and identification of five villages under each police station for development as child-friendly villages. Police personnel will conduct regular visits to these villages to oversee implementation of planned activities.
At the village level, IICs of police stations have been directed to convene Ama Police Samiti meetings at least once every fortnight, with adolescent empowerment and prevention of child marriage featuring as key agenda items. Traditional leaders, frontline workers, peer groups, self-help groups, panchayat representatives and school management committees will be involved in identifying and addressing child protection concerns.
Members of the Ama Police Samiti will serve as community watchdogs, reporting cases of child marriage, child labour, abuse and missing children. They will also conduct awareness campaigns and maintain records of vulnerable children.
At the police station level, officers will be trained on child-friendly protocols, child rights laws and the provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. Police stations have also been directed to ensure effective functioning of women and child desks, and to respond promptly to reports of child marriage.