Medical reports on Saturday confirmed that five more girls from the Muzaffarpur shelter home had been sexually exploited, raising the number of victims in the case to 34. Forty-two girls of Balika Grih were subjected to the medical test at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) here.
With the medical reports of five more girls confirming sexual exploitation on Saturday, the number of Muzaffarpur shelter home victims has risen to 34. Forty-two girls of Balika Grih were subjected to medical test at the Patna Medical College and Hospital and 29 returned positive for rape.
“The number of girls raped in the shelter home has gone up to 34 from 29 reported earlier …. medical reports of the remaining 8 girls have not shown any signs of sexual contact,” Harpreet Kaur, Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur, told The Hindu over phone.
“The report of one of the eight girls is, however, suspicious as overwriting has been noticed…we’ve asked the PMCH doctors for clarification”, she said.
Secret staircases found
Senior police officials, including Muzaffarpur Inspector General of Police Sunil Kumar, who visited the shelter home on Saturday found three secret staircases leading up to the adjacent residence of the main accused Brajesh Thakur. Thakur’s NGO, Sankalp Evan Vikas Samiti, which was given the contract to run the home by the State Social Welfare Department, was managing its affairs since October 2013.
The Bihar government has already recommended a CBI inquiry into the case. The district police has arrested 10 of the 11 accused and filed chargesheets against them. Thakur was arrested within 48-hours of the FIR being lodged by the State Welfare Department on May 31.
A Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) report had, earlier, exposed sexual and physical exploitation of girls at 15 shelter and short-stay homes in Bihar, including the Muzaffarpur shelter home. Bihar has 110 shelter and short-stay homes run by the state welfare department.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Tejaswi Yadav who along with other alliance parties have been demanding “High-Court monitored CBI inquiry” into the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes, slammed the NDA government in a tweet. “Bihar has rakshas raj (demonic rule)….here Ravan kidnaps Mother Sita...this is balatkar raj (rape culture), coward Duryodhan is disrobing Draupadi. In Bihar, the Ravan-Duryodhan pair has made it difficult for sisters and mothers to step out”.
Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday set off on a bicycle rally from Bodh Gaya to Patna to protest against rampant incidents of rape and deteriorating law and order in the State. He had earlier attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the “delayed decision” to recommend a CBI probe into the case.
‘Order SC-monitored probe’
Our Special Correspondent adds from New Delhi:
The Congress on Saturday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe into the charges of sexual exploitation at the government-run shelter home at Muzaffarpur. The party also questioned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s silence on the issue and asked him whether this was an example of “good governance model” of the ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance.