10 held as girls at Bihar shelter home allege rape, murder; cops excavate premises
A team of policemen in Bihar has dug up the grounds at a government shelter home where over 40 young girls were allegedly raped, to investigate the allegation that one girl was beaten to death and buried there. Out of the 21 reports of medical examination that have been submitted, rape of 16 girls has been confirmed by doctors, while reports are still not out on the rest of the girls who lived in the horror house in Muzaffarpur.
The girl was killed after a disagreement with the staff, one of the girls has told the police.
Sexual exploitation of girls lodged at the shelter home in Bihar had come to light in a social audit by a Mumbai-based institute, following which the state social welfare department filed an FIR in this connection last month, and ten people were arrested.
The opposition RJD raised the issue in both the Legislative Assembly and the Council demanding a CBI inquiry into the allegations and claimed that the scandal involved many “wellconnected people” whom the Nitish Kumar government was trying to shield.
Muzaffarpur SSP Harpreet Kaur told reporters, “We are carrying out the excavation based on the statement given by one of the girls. She has identified the spot.”
“Nothing has so far been found from the site during the excavation. However, the area of excavation might be expanded after further examination of the girl who had alleged in her testimony that one of the inmates had been beaten to death,” the officer said.
More than 40 girls had been lodged at the shelter home, and medical reports suggest that over half of them may have had sexual intercourse at some point of time, she said, adding, “Altogether 10 people, including the district child protection officer, women staff members of the shelter home have been arrested so far.”
The NGO running the shelter home has been blacklisted, she said adding, all the girls have been shifted to shelter homes in other districts while the premises here have been sealed.