Monitor shelter homes: Bihar governor tells Nitish Kumar

Patna: Torture and rape of 34 minor girls inside Muzaffarpur shelter home has ignited political temperature in the state. Concerned over the issue, Bihar governor Satyapal Malik has written a letter to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar urging him to monitor shelter homes to avoid recurrence of Muzaffarpur kind of incident in future.

Besides Mr Kumar, the governor has also sent letters to Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Chief Justice of Patna high court Rajendra Menon in this regard.

Sources claim that the governor was concerned after survivors told the police about consistent torture and rape they suffered during their stay in Muzaffarpur shelter home. He has also stressed the need for regular social audit of shelter homes which has been functioning in the state.

Muzaffarpur shelter home issue had surfaced in March after a Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) found sexual assault victims. An audit report was submitted to the social welfare department by the institute following which authorities registered an FIR and rescued girls from the shelter home and shifted them to other safer places.

So far, 10 accused, including Brajesh Thakur, the administrator of the NGO which was in agreement to run the shelter home, were arrested last month while Dilip Verma, chairman of district welfare committee, is still absconding.

The matter was handed over to CBI last week by the state government. According to sources here, the CBI has registered cases against officials and employees of shelter home on the basis of statements made by victims.

On Wednesday, the CBI team visited the shelter home to assess the situation. Sources from Muzaffarpur said that the CBI is also likely to question officials of social welfare department in connection with the case.

Bihar governor taking cognizance of the matter is being seen as a major setback for Nitish Kumar and his government. The Opposition parties in the state had earlier blamed leaders associated with ruling NDA of influencing the police probe to save “big people” involved in the case.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav who has been protesting against rising crime graph and rampant incident of rapes in the state had earlier said that, “not only Muzaffarpur shelter home where minor girls became victims of sexual assault but similar complaints regarding a similar incident is coming from shelter homes located in Banka, Darbhanga, Hajipur, Saran and Gopalganj districts”.