Now Reading: Odisha rights panel orders probe into orphan’s wrong parents in certificates
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Odisha rights panel orders probe into orphan’s wrong parents in certificates
Odisha rights panel orders probe into orphan’s wrong parents in certificates
The Odisha Human Rights Commission has ordered a 13-point inquiry into how a parentless university student's certificates and Aadhaar card came to carry different and fabricated names for his parents. Praveen, a…
The Odisha Human Rights Commission has ordered a 13-point inquiry into how a parentless university student's certificates and Aadhaar card came to carry different and fabricated names for his parents. Praveen, a graduate at Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur, was abandoned at an orphanage at age five. His documents record Munna Ekka and Kan Ekka as parents, while his Aadhaar lists former institution superintendent P. K. Senapati as his father.
The discrepancies have blocked his access to government assistance for orphans and persons with disabilities. Praveen supported himself through tuition and newspaper hawking after being denied admission to Plus Two at Sundargarh Government College, resolved only by the district collector's intervention. Common service centres demanded documents he does not possess when he sought to correct his Aadhaar.
An OHRC team heard Praveen's account during a university awareness programme in August. The commission has directed the Sundargarh collector to complete the inquiry within five days and warned the case may not be isolated. The next hearing is scheduled for September 1, 2026. Human rights activist Biswapriya Kanungo stated that the Women and Child Welfare Department should direct all childcare institutions to identify similar discrepancies.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Praveen's case is not an anomaly. Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, childcare institutions are legally responsible for maintaining accurate records of every child in their care, including the assignment of 'parent' names for administrative purposes when biological parents are unknown. The OHRC's 13-point inquiry will test whether the Sundargarh administration follows the model guidelines the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued in 2020 for correcting orphan records. The Rs. 3,000 monthly pension under the Odisha State Child Protection Society and scholarship schemes under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment hang on this correction. The September 1, 2026 hearing will reveal whether the commission sets a district-wide precedent for auditing all childcare institution records.
Source: thehindu.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
