New Delhi: Taking cognisance of rapes in government-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur in Bihar, the Supreme Court on Thursday sought report from Bihar government and the Centre over the matter within three weeks. Expressing concern about the girls, the court barred the publication of morphed images of girls who were sexually assaulted.
A bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta appointed senior lawyer Aparna Bhatt as amicus curiae and directed all concerned with the case to cooperate with her.
The bench, in its observation, said if the need be the court can also monitor the investigation into the case.
Citing some horrific details of the case, the bench remarked that the culprits should be given strictest of punishment.
The matter came to light in June after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, asked to audit the state's welfare homes, detailed the horrendous accounts from the children in their report.
The top court direction comes on the day the state is witnessing a bandh call given by six Left Parties and supported by the grand alliance over the sexual abuse of minor girls.
According to the medial reports, 34 of the 42 girls living at the shelter were sexually assaulted. All of them were below the age of 18. They have named Brajesh Thakur, who ran the shelter, and Muzaffarpur’s Child Protection Officer Ravi Kumar Roshan in their statements before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate.
Last week police filed the charge sheet against the owner of the NGO, Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, Brajesh Thakur and ten others in Muzaffarpur shelter rapes. On July 28, the CBI took over the case from state police after request from Nitish Kumar was approved by Centre.
Urging chief minister Nitish Kumar, the Bihar Governor stressed the need for “developing an institutional mechanism” to ensure a regular social audit of shelter homes by competent institutions.
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