SC says facts ‘very disturbing’, asks for probe against ex-min Koregaon-bhima case: SC reserves verdict on five ACTIVISTS’ ARRESTS CAG questions Guj govt’s claim on ODF status

Govt official among four detained by CBI

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday termed as “very disturbing” the facts emerging from CBI’S probe into the Muzzafarpur shelter home sexual abuse case and asked the Bihar Police to probe the alleged recovery of large quantity of ammunition from former state minister Manju Verma and her husband.

Manju Verma had resigned as the Social Welfare Minister in the Bihar government following the Muzzafarpur case where several women were raped and sexually abused, after it came to light that her husband Chandrashekhar Verma had spoken to prime accused Brajesh Thakur several times between January and June this year. The apex court, which observed that CBI’S probe in the case seemed to be on track, said it was not clear whether illegal arms were also recovered from the possession of the Vermas and the matter needed to be looked into by the local police.

Taking note of the facts emerging from the two status reports filed by the CBI, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said that Thakur appeared to be a “very influential” man, as his neighbours were scared to file any complaint against him despite the fact that they had heard screams of girls from the shelter home.

The bench said “it has also come on record that one Chandrashekhar Verma and his wife Manju Verma have been in possession of illegal ammunition of a fairly large quantity. It is not clear whether they were in possession of illegal arms as well. The status report mentions that an FIR has been lodged against Chandrashekhar Verma and Manju Verma.”

“The affairs of these two need to be looked into, particularly with regard to their procurement and possession of illegal ammunition and availability of illegal weapons, if any. We request the local police in the state of Bihar to look into this aspect with some degree of seriousness,” it said.

The bench took note of the fact that the state’s social welfare department had shifted some girls from the shelter home run by Brajesh Thakur in March this year, but the purpose of shifting was not clear.

“The status report also mentions that some girls were transferred on March 20, 2018 by social welfare department from the shelter home, which is the subject matter of present investigation by the CBI,” it said.

It is not clear why these girls were transferred out, particularly when the report given by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) about the status of the shelter home was known to the state in May, the bench observed. NEW DELHI: The CBI has detained four persons including an official of the social welfare department of Bihar in connection with alleged sexual abuse of minor girls at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, officials said Thursday.

The sexual assault of 34 girls over a period of time in the government-funded shelter home came to light after a social audit was conducted by the Mumbaibased Tata Institute of Social Sciences. During her inspections, Rosy Rani, assistant director in the social welfare department between 2015-17, was informed by the victims about the abuse but she did not take any action, they said.

The agency has detained Rani, and staff members Guddu, Vijay and Santosh of prime accused Brajesh Thakur, whose NGO ran the shelter home, they said. They said the case pertains to The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act and Rani allegedly did not act in spite of receiving complaints from the minor girls who were facing sexual abuse at the centre and hence she may be face charges of abetment of crime.

The three staff members also allegedly visited the shelter home and the agency suspects their involvement in the crime, they said.

The agency has frozen 20 bank accounts of Thakur besides any kind of transaction of his movable and immovable properties, they said.

The Supreme Court Thursday vacated a Patna High Court order restraining the media from reporting on the probe into the Muzaffarpur shelter home case where several women were allegedly raped and sexually abused over a period of time. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday reserved its verdict on a plea by historian Romila Thapar and others seeking the immediate release of five rights activists in connection with the Koregaon-bhima violence case and an SIT probe into their arrest.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, reserved the judgment after counsel for both parties including senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Harish Salve and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta concluded their submissions.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khaniwlkar and D Y Chandrachud, asked the Maharashtra police to file their case diary pertaining to the ongoing investigation in the case by September 24. It also asked the parties to file their written submissions by then.

The five activists --Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha-- are under arrest at their respective homes since August 29.

The plea by Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociology professor Satish Deshpande and human rights lawyer Maja Daruwala has sought an independent probe into the arrests and the immediate release of the five activists.

The Maharashtra police had arrested the rights activists on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave -- ‘Elgaar Parishad’ -- held on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Koregaon-bhima village.

The apex court had said on September 19 that it would look into the case with a hawk’s eye as liberty cannot be “sacrificed at the altar of conjectures”.

It had told the Maharashtra government that there should be a clear-cut distinction between opposition and dissent on one hand and attempts to create disturbance, law and order problems or overthrow the government on the other.

Senior advocate Anand Grover, Ashwini Kumar and advocate Prashant Bhushan also alleged that the entire case was cooked up and adequate safeguards should be provided to protect the liberty of five activists. GANDHINAGAR: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said that the government’s claim of Gujarat being ‘Open Defecation Free’ (ODF) appears to be wrong, as many rural households were found to have no toilets.

In a survey conducted in eight districts, nearly 30 per cent of houses were found to have no toilets, said the CAG report tabled in the state Assembly on Wednesday.

The Union government had informed the Lok Sabha in February this year that 11 states including Gujarat have been declared as ODF under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).

“The state government declared all the districts of Gujarat as ODF by October 2, 2017. However, information provided by 120 test-checked Gram Panchayats under eight selected District Panchayats for the period of 2014-17 revealed that 29 per cent households still did not have access to toilets (individual or public),” the CAG report said.

“Therefore, the claim of the state government that all the districts of Gujarat were ODF did not appear to be correct,” it said.