Bihar cops dig for rape victim’s body
Bihar’s Muzaffarpur police on Monday excavated the small campus of a short-stay home for girls (Balika Gruha) located along the Sahu Road locality of the town looking for the remains of a girl who is alleged to have been murdered and buried there by officials in charge of the home.
A special Prevention of Children against Sexual Offences act (POCSO) court gave the police permission for the excavation.
No remains were found. Muzaffarpur SSP Harpreet Kaur said that the entire exercise was done under the supervision of executive magistrate Sheela Kumari. “We found nothing in the exercise to substantiate murder and burial of a minor. We are conducting a thorough investigation.” Kaur added that the soil excavated will be sent to forensic laboratory for scientific investigation.
The Muzaffarpur short-stay home shot into infamy in February this year after a social audit report by ‘Koshish’, a field unit of Tata Institute of Social Services (TISS) following a social audit of all 110 shelter homes of the state, that pointed to the ill-treatment of girls in at least four of the shelter homes.
The TISS report revealed that the inmates, all minors, were sexually exploited, and used as sex slaves, with few of them carrying pregnancies.
The report squarely blamed officials of a NGO, Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, engaged by the state’s welfare department to run short-stay home for the exploitation of the girls.
Acting swiftly on the report which rocked the state, the welfare department sent a medical team to examine the girls. The medical team confirmed sexual assault of at least 21girls following which FIRs were lodged against the NGO and few government officials.
Police soon arrested 10 persons including the short-stay home’s in-charge, Brajesh Thakur, who also printed and published three newspapers in English, Hindi and Urdu from the same building. Two officials of the state welfare department were also booked and sent to jail.
Meanwhile, the 47 inmates were shifted to safer short-stay homes in Patna, Mokama and Madhubani where they recorded their statements. At least two to three inmates mentioned that the officials of the NGO had killed a 14-year-old girl who resisted a sexual assault, police officials said. The police then sought the permission of the court to look for the body.
One of the girls who levelled this allegation has since escaped from the Madhubani home where she was lodged.
Wary of security of girls in other shelter homes, the state social welfare department has now decided to hire transgenders for their security.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already given his go-ahead to the department’s proposal and asked the officials to ensure the safety and security of inmates.
On Monday, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the main opposition party in the state demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
AFTER THE MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF 44 GIRLS, DOCTORS CONFIRMED SEXUAL ASSAULT ON 21 MINORS