SC expresses shock over state of affairs in Bihar, summons chief secretary, DGP

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed shock over the state of affairs in Bihar after the government told the court that it has not been able to trace out its absconding former cabinet minister Manju Verma, who had to resign in the aftermath of Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case and facing arrest in case lodged against her under Arms Act.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also pulled up the state government for not taking action against shelter homes where the girls and boys were allegedly tortured and sexually assaulted as revealed by social audit of homes conducted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS) and summoned the chief secretary of the state to personally appear before it on November 27 to explain why the government kept its eyes closed against 14 shelter homes where sexual abuse is alleged to be “rampant”.

At the outset of the hearing, the bench asked the state government counsel whether the former minister had been arrested or not and the advocate replied that the police had not been able to trace out Verma who went underground after her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by Patna High Court on October 9. Bihar police had lodged a case against Verma and her husband for possessing illegal ammunition which came to light after CBI conducted a raid at their residence during the probe in Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case.

“A former cabinet minister goes for hiding and the government is saying that the police was not able to trace her. Do you realise the seriousness of the case? We are quite shocked that a former minister cannot be traced by the police for more than a month,” the bench said and directed the state DGP to personally appear before it on November 27 if state police failed to arrest Manju Verma.

The apex court had earlier also pulled up Nitish Kumar government for not taking action against former social welfare minister Manju Verma who had to resign after the crime in shelter home came to light. The court had on October 30 sought an explanation from the state government after advocate Fauzia Shakil told the bench that Verma had not been arrested under Arms Act even after the High Court rejected her anticipatory bail plea.

Shakil, appearing for a social activist, told the court that a case was registered against Verma and her husband after CBI found illegal ammunition from her premises while conducting the raid in shelter home case an FIR was lodged against the couple. She also informed the court that apart from Muzaffarpur shelter home, where 34 inmates were raped, TISS had identified 14 other shelter homes across the state where sexual and physical abuse was rampant but the state government did not take any action against them.

Agreeing with her contention, the bench said that there was “widespread” mismanagement in shelter homes in Bihar as it had also read in a newspaper that five girls fled away from a shelter home in the state.

Manju Verma’s husband had also gone absconding but surrendered himself before a local court in Begusarai in Bihar and was remanded to judicial custody. Manju was in the eye of the storm after Shiba Kumari, wife of jailed child protection officer Ravi Kumar Raushan, alleged that Minister’s husband Chandeshwar Verma used to frequently visit the shelter home where 34 girls were allegedly raped over a period of time.