SC transfers Muzaffarpur shelter home cases from Bihar to Delhi

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 7

Angry at mishandling of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse cases, the Supreme Court on Thursday transferred the trial from Bihar to a court in the National Capital.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi ordered the cases would now be transferred from a CBI Special Court in Bihar to a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Court at Saket in New Delhi in two weeks.

The POCSO court has to conclude the trial in six months, it ordered.

The Supreme Court had on October 30 ordered shifting of prime accused Brajesh Thakur from Bhagalpur jail in Bihar to high-security prison in Patiala, Punjab. It was his NGO which uses to run the shelter home where the horrific crime took place.

On Thursday, the top court also pulled up the state for mismanagement of shelter homes.

“Enough is enough. Children cannot be treated like this. You cannot let your officers treat children this way. Spare the children,” the top court told the Bihar government.

It will summon the Chief Secretary if the state failed to give all information, the Bench said.

It took exception to transfer of CBI officer AK Sharma associated with probe in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex abuse cases despite an order to the contrary by the court. It sought to know if Cabinet Committee on Appointment was informed about the court order. It asked the CBI to file an affidavit giving an explanation.

The issue came to light in May last year following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) that said several girls, including minor ones were allegedly raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur.

The Supreme Court had on November 28 ordered a CBI probe into 16 more shelter homes abuse cases in Bihar following allegations that the state police was going ‘soft’ on the accused.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, had found instances of aggravated offences in 17 shelter homes in Bihar. But criminal cases were registered only in connection with 10 under lesser offences.

In one such case, TISS found sexual violence at a shelter home for boys but the FIR didn’t include stringent IPC provisions on sodomy. In another case, a child who refused to cook food suffered a three-inch long scar on his cheek. In both cases, the state police filed a case only under the Juvenile Justice Act.

The top court has been coming down heavily on the Bihar government for its handling of the probe into the Muzaffarpur shelter home, where 30 of the 42 girls were allegedly sexually abused.

Former minister Manju Verma eventually surrendered earlier this month following warning from the court in connection with seizure of ammunition from her home during a raid. She had to resign as Social Welfare Minister in August after it came to light that her husband Chandrashekhar Verma frequented the Muzaffarpur shelter home.