Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar received a jolt after a Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) court at Muzaffarpur today directed the CBI, already investigating the city based shelter home inmates sexual abuse case, to probe his role and that of principal secretary of state welfare department Atul Prasad and the then district magistrate of Muzaffarpur.
The Special POCSO court directed the CBI to probe the role of Kumar and two officials – principal secretary of welfare department and the then DM of Muzaffarpur Singh, on a request made by Ashwini who had earlier been arrested in connection with the case. Ashwini had alleged in his petition that CBI was “suppressing facts” in course of the investigation, which would only come to light if roles of the chief minister and two others were probed.
Ashwini used to pose as a doctor and visit the shelter home to allegedly administer sedative-laced injections to the inmates before they were sexually abused.The state government had allegedly continued to fund shelter homes even after Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted the report that brought the horrific details to light.
The incident had come to light last year when a report of the social audit conducted by Mumbai-based TISS exposed sexual abuse of inmates at the Muzaffarpur shelter home. An FIR in this connection was lodged in May last year and a number of persons, including Brajesh Thakur, the owner of the NGO running the shelter home, were arrested by police in connection with the case.
The case was handed over to the CBI in July. State social welfare minister Manju Verma stepped down after media reported that her husband had close links with Brajesh Thakur, the owner of the shelter home.
Thakur has been shifted to a jail in Patiala following the order of the Supreme Court even as other accused, including his close aides and some government officials, are lodged in jails at Patna and Muzaffarpur.
The apex court had recently directed the CBI to take over the probe into allegations of sexual abuse at all such shelter homes across the state.The apex court had also ordered for hearing of the case in Saket Court, Delhi, to ensure fair trial.
