SHELTER RAPE SURVIVORS RECALL ORDEAL

Muzaffarpur shelter home survivors in their statement to the investigating agencies have revealed sordid details of torture they went through before being raped by employees and officials of the facility.

The victims including handicapped minor girls were subjected to extreme brutality and even thrashed when they tried to raise their voices against employees of the shelter home. One of the victims even showed injury marks to the authorities claiming that they were beaten up by iron rods and made to sit naked for hours.

Victims said that the officials of shelter home used to sedate them by giving deworming tablets and they used to wake up naked with pain in the abdominal areas.

Sources said that girls narrated the details of torture to members of investigating team. Reports from Muzaffarpur also suggest that a handicapped minor girl also identified one of the accused as a “head sir” in front of the police when she was shown the photographs.

Earlier police had said that girls used to refer Brajesh Thakur, the administrator of the NGO as “head sir”. However, according to sources, several girls have also identified Dilip Verma, chairperson of district welfare committee as one of the accused who used to visit shelter home regularly.

Dilip Verma has been absconding so far.

“People who used to visit the shelter home with head sir also used to rape us. We used to tell them that it hurts but they ignored our requests”, one of the victims told the investigator. The conversation between victim and investigator was later aired on several regional channels. The girls also spoke about the involvement of female employees at the shelter home.