SC bench comprising Justices M B Lokur, Deepak Gupta and K M Joseph expressed grave concern about what’s happening to women in the country. The bench said women were being raped “left, right and centre” in the country. The apex court asked the Bihar government to arrest wife of one of the accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home incident for disclosing the names of alleged minor rape victims by posting their names on her Facebook account.
Meanwhile, advocate Aparna Bhat, who was appointed as an amicus curiae in the matter, told the court that no compensation has been paid to the alleged victims of sexual assault at the Muzaffarpur shelter home.
The SC was also told that the Muzaffarpur-based NGO is not the only one which is facing allegation of rape incidents, as the social audit report of NGOs pointed out 15 similar state-funded institutions in Bihar were under scrutiny. The alleged sexual exploitation of the girls was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai to the state’s social welfare department in April. SC says that proper monitoring of NGO run shelter homes must be done on day to day basis and CCTV should be installed to prevent Muzaffarpur like incident.
Meanwhile, news agency ANI reported on Tuesday that police have found one woman who was among the 11 women who went missing from another shelter home run by the same people as in Muzaffarpur.
Supreme Court, while taking suo moto cognizance of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case last week, had issued notices to the state government and Union Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The incident came to light in April following an audit of the shelter home by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which said many girls had complained of sexual abuse. Till now, the police have arrested 11 people in the case, including the prime accused Brijesh Thakur, who is the owner of NGO Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti that ran the shelter home. Surprisingly, a month after the TISS report was submitted, the state social welfare department sanctioned another project to the NGO on the same day police lodged an FIR against the outfit.
The apex court also pulled up the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government for funding the NGO running the shelter home where girls were being allegedly raped and sexually abused. The court also asked: “Who is giving money to the shelter home in the state?” ANI quoted the Bench as saying.
The Patna High Court has decided to monitor the CBI investigation into the alleged sexual exploitation and abuse of 34 girls at a shelter home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district. The court also ordered a speedy trial in the case and gave the CBI two weeks time to prepare a report on the case.
