Top court slams Bihar for funding NGOs involved in sexual abuse
new delhi — Expressing concern over the spurt in rape cases, the Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Bihar government for misusing tax payers’ money to fund NGOs like the Muzaffarpur shelter home.
“People are paying taxes. People’s money is going into funding these kinds of activities... Money has been given to these NGOs without looking into their credentials,” a bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice K.M. Joseph remarked.
“What’s to be done? Girls getting raped left, right and centre,” the Bench noted citing the 2016 National Crime Research Bureau data available on the Internet. According to the data, 38,947 rapes were reported in 2016.
In Madhya Pradesh, girls are being sold openly for prostitution and the state leads in the number of rapes, followed by Uttar Pradesh, the court added.
Slamming the Bihar government for funding NGOs involved in sexual abuse cases, the top court questioned how the state could provide them funds without knowing their credentials.
As the bench asked the Bihar government since when the state was providing funds to these NGOs, it was told “since 2014”.
“For at least 3-4 years, the Bihar government is giving them money without purpose. Doesn’t the law require to check?”
The court has taken suo motu cognisance of the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes after a Patna
resident wrote to the court. The CBI is probing the case.
The court also imposed a blanket ban on the publication of images of victims of sexual offences even by putting black bars on part of face/ blurred form on the electronic,
print and social media. The court suggested that proper monitoring of NGO-run shelter homes must be done on a daily basis and CCTVs be installed to prevent recurrence of incidents like the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes. —