Former Bihar cabinet minister Manju Verma moves SC for bail

NEW DELHI: Absconding former cabinet minister of Bihar Manju Verma, who had to resign in the aftermath of Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case and facing arrest in a case lodged against her under Arms Act, has moved Supreme Court seeking anticipatory bail.

She approached the court at a time when the Bihar government is facing the wrath of SC for not arresting her despite her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by Patna HC. As the state police failed to trace her out after she went undergroud, the apex court has summoned the DGP of the state to personally appear before to give explanation.

SC had on Monday expressed "shock" on 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.

"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 has repeatedly 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.

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.

The court had also questioned 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".