Minor domestic help rescued from former district collector’s Bhubaneswar house

As per Juvenile justice act, employing children under the age of 14-years is a crime and therefore a case has been filed, however, the former bureaucrat will be booked after further probe, officials said.

Published on: Jun 15, 2021, 13:18:48 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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A 12-year-old girl trafficked from Odisha’s Berhampur was rescued from the residence of a former Ganjam district collector in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

The minor girl, a student of class 5, was allegedly trafficked from her village in Berhampur in Ganjam district in November 2020.(Photo by Manoj Kumar / Hindustan Times)

The rescue operation was carried out with the help of Nayapalli police following information that the poverty-stricken minor girl was trafficked from Berhampur and engaged as a domestic help in Bhubaneswar.

“The owner of the house, from where the girl was rescued, is a retired district collector of Ganjam. It is really unfortunate that those who are supposed to safeguard the rights of the children are exploiting them,” said Benudhar Senapati, director of Childline NGO, which was involved in the rescue.

As per Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, employing children under the age of 14-years is a crime and therefore a case has been filed under the act. However, the former bureaucrat will be booked after further probe, officials said.

The minor girl, a student of class 5, was allegedly trafficked from her village in Berhampur in Ganjam district in November 2020 and engaged in domestic work at the residence of the retired collector. Her father is a rickshaw puller and mother works as a domestic help.

Officials said the girl was produced before the additional chairperson of Khurda Child Welfare Committee as is mandated under the Juvenile Justice Act. CWC sent her to a child-care institution in Bhubaneswar and ordered further probe by Ganjam CWC as well as CWC of Gajapati district, her native home.

Childline NGO has also filed a separate petition with the Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights seeking action in the case.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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