Odisha Crime Branch confirmed that in 2017, Bhadrak reported the highest number of POCSO cases, 111.
“Do you know about good touch and bad touch?” a woman asks her young daughter on a screen set up in a packed room at a government school in remote Tillo village in Odisha’s Bhadrak district Tuesday. “Others touching your hand is okay”, says the woman, adding, “Feeling body parts, which you cover while swimming, is a bad touch. Apart from your parents and a doctor, nobody is allowed to touch (you) there”.
In 2018, several cases of sexual assault and rape of minors have been reported from Odisha, which accounted for the fourth highest number of POCSO cases in the country in 2016. The video playing in Bhadrak is part of a pilot public awareness campaign, organised by state police and UNICEF.
The campaign, Pari Paien Katha Tiye (A message for angels), started on May 28 in Bhubaneswar with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagging off Pari Raths — yellow pickup trucks mounted with posters, screens and speakers that play campaign messages developed by UNICEF. Fifteen such vehicles are touring all blocks in 30 districts of Odisha for a fortnight. On Tuesday, Bhadrak SP Battula Gangadhar flagged off the district-wide campaign.
Odisha Crime Branch confirmed that in 2017, Bhadrak reported the highest number of POCSO cases, 111.
“This will not only raise public awareness, but sensitise police officers participating in the exercise”, DGP, Odisha, Dr R P Sharma told The Indian Express.
On Tuesday, the school in Tillo was thronged by students, teachers, parents, police and government officials. Some girls had dressed up in white frocks with wings at the back. Wand in hand, they were the paris (angels). “The first 24 hours are critical in evidence collection”, said Smruti Rekha Sahoo, 14, a student volunteer. “We should not be ashamed and report (such incidents) to our parents and police immediately”, she said, explaining what she learnt from the initiative.
Another video developed by UNICEF, addressing sexual abuse of boys, plays on the screen. Five boys, aged between nine and fourteen, play with a tyre behind the 400-strong crowd. Insisting that they are paying attention, they say, “If someone touches us inappropriately, we will beat them up and hand them over to the police.”