Odisha's missing Bonda tribal boy: Amidst child trafficking suspicion child rights commission issues notice

Bonda tribal women

By A Representative
Taking cognizance of a complaint filed by Pradip Pradhan, a human rights activist, the Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR) has issued notice to the authorities of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) Tribal School, Bhubaneswar, seeking detailed report by May 30, 2018 on a missing Bonda tribal boy, who studied in the school run by Achyut Samant, newly elected Rajya Sabha MP of thye Biju Janata Dal.
The District Child Protection Officer, Malkangiri, Superintendent of Police, SDPO and Inspector-in-Charge, Pokhariput Police station, Malkanagiri have been simultaneously asked to provide details the missing tribal boy.
The notice, issued on May 8, 2018, follows Pradhan’s complaint to the OSCPCR seeking an inquiry into the missing of the Bonda tribal child, Rama Chandra, from the KISS Tribal School, Bhubaneswar, for the last three years. He was studying in class VIII.
According to Pradhan, “Having been influenced by agents of the KISS Tribal School with assurance of free education and hostel facility, Rama Chandra’s mother sent him to the KISS Tribal School, with the great hope of educating and nourishing him as a meritorious student.”
Having failed to find her son, she filed an FIR with the Pokhariput Police Station, Malkangiri district, seeking an inquiry into her missing son. Pradhan alleges in an email alert to Counterview, KISS authorities “neglected and did not taken care of Rama Chandra properly, hence he went missing.”
He adds, “Trafficking of Rama Chandra also cannot be ruled out. KISS as institution is illegal, as it has not been registered under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.”

Pradip Pradhan

Referring to the Supreme Court case WP (crl) 102 of 2007, Pradhan quotes, apex court as directing “the Union Government and the governments of the States and Union Territories” to ensure that “the process of registration of all child care institutions is completed positively by December 31, 2017 with the entire data being confirmed and validated.”
The apex court had added, “The information should be available with all the concerned officials. The registration process should also include a data base of all children in need of care and protection which should be updated every month. While maintaining the database, issues of confidentiality and privacy must be kept in mind by the concerned authorities”.
According to Pradhan, “One needs to mention here that Bonda tribe, a most vulnerable and marginalized primitive tribal group, is residing in a small patch of Bonda Hill of Malkangiri, which is most underdeveloped and Naxal-affected district of Odisha.”
He adds, “Bonda tribes are still primitive in nature and are a deprived section of society and survive in abject poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Most of them are illiterate and deprived of school education.” The situation, he suggests, has not changed even though the State government “is undertaking a lot of special project including Bonda Development Authority for upliftment of Bonda tribes.”