Girls’ statements revealed info on buried skeleton: CBI
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that discussions with girls who were sexually abused in Muzaffarpur shelter helped the agency come to know about the skeleton of a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly murdered there and buried in a 25-feet deep pit.
The counsel who is representing CBI before the trial court in Muzaffarpur appeared before a bench led by Justice MB Lokur.
He said that the agency needed some more time to talk to the girls. He said the team with the assistance of volunteers from Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Vimhans), spoke with the inmates for 14 days before they revealed about the murder and how the body of a 15-year-old girl was buried.
The CBI counsel said interaction with the inmates will be over by October 25. Advocate Aparna Bhat, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, urged the agency to expedite the counseling process. The bench, in return, asked Bhat to speak to VIMHANS in-charge and ascertain if counseling an d CBI’s investigation could run parallelly .
The court also asked Joint Secretary of Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD) to apprise it on the formulation of a child protection policy and sought a reply on October 8. Justice Lokur said the court wants to know what exactly was proposed by the government to deal with issues like counselling and rehabilitation of such victims.
Bhat referred to the data states had submitted to the Centre over similar sexual abuse incidents in shelter homes within their respective jurisdiction. She said Andhra Pradesh was the only state that admitted to such sexual abuses. “In one shelter home 26 children were abused,” she said. Although Andhra Pradesh said it took action, there was no clarity on what was the nature, Bhat submitted.
SC also took strong exception to non-appearance of any representative from the Press Council of India, the Editors Guild and the Indian Broadcasting Federation to assist it in dealing with the issue of alleged non-adherence of statutory provisions in broadcasting news related to rape and sexual abuses.
The top court also sought to know from the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, which was the only media body to comply with its order to appear before it, about the action taken by them against media persons who have violated the statutory requirement.