No girl killed in Muzaffarpur shelter home, bones found were of some other adults: CBI to SC
Muzaffarpur shelter home case: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that investigation in all 17 shelter homes cases, including Muzaffarpur(Bihar) shelter home abuse case, has been completed and that no girl was killed in Muzaffarpur shelter home. Appearing for the probe agency, Attorney General KK Venugopal told the Supreme Court that there is no evidence of murder and that the bones found “were of some other adults”. All 35 girls suspects of having been murdered have been found alive, he said. "All 35 girls suspects of having been murdered have been found alive."
The case pertains to the alleged sexual and physical assault of several girls at a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur which was run by former Bihar People's Party (BPP) MLA Brajesh Thakur.
The court had on March 20, 2018, framed charges against the accused for offences of criminal conspiracy to commit rape and penetrative sexual assault against minors.
The matter had come to light after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report to the Bihar government on May 26, 2018, highlighting the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls in the shelter home. The accused included eight females and 12 males.
The court had held in-camera trial for the offences of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, drugging of minors, criminal intimidation among other charges, said advocate Dheeraj Kumar Singh, appearing for some of the accused in the case.
Key accused Thakur and employees of his shelter home, as well as Bihar department of social welfare officials were charged with criminal conspiracy, neglect of duty and failure to report assault on the girls, the lawyer had said.
The charges also included offence of cruelty to child under their authority, punishable under the Juvenile Justice Act. All the accused, who appeared before the court, had pleaded innocence and claimed trial. The offences entail a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The top court had on August 2 taken cognisance of the alleged sexual assaults of about 30 minor girls in Muzaffarpur's shelter home and transferred the probe to the CBI on November 28.
