The CBI on Thursday registeredfour more FIRs pertaining to alleged abuse of children in Bihar’s four new shelter homes. With this, CBI has now lodged FIRs against nine shelter homes of the state, including four on Wednesday.

The lodging of fresh FIRs against shelter homes comes in the wake of the Supreme Court directive on November 28 to the CBI to probe alleged abuse of inmates at 17 shelter homeslisted in a study conducted byKoshis, a field action project of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

With the CBI stepping up probe, a senior CBI official said that more FIRs would be lodged in the days to come to cover all the 17 shelter homes, which got indicted by the TISS social audit report.

The shelter homes against whom FIRs were lodged include Patna-based Kaushal Kutir, run by Don Bosco Technical Society, an NGO, and Short-Stay Home, run by IKARD, an NGO. The other two are Seva Kutir, run by Om Sai Foundation in Muzaffarpur and Short Stay home, run by Gram Swaraj Seva Sansthan, Kaimur.

According to the TISS report, which is the basis of CBI FIR, one of the girls had committed suicide at theShort-Stay Home, run by IKARD, as she “unable to cope with the violent atmosphere there”. Another girl lost her mental balance due to trauma, the TISS social audit report said.

“The office bearers of the home abetted breach of peace there and resorted to physical assaults. The officials’s gestures and actions intended to insult the modesty of girls. The girls had their home addresses and mobile numbers of family members, but were not allowed to return to their families,” says the FIR.

At Kaushal Kutir, run by Don Bosco Tech Society, the team came across physical violence and verbal abuse against both men and women living there. People had been brought there on the pretext of work. The CBI FIR has mentioned that undesired restrains were put on the female and male inmates.

In Kaimur, the report said, the girls at the home reported sexual abuse, lewd comments, physical assault and inappropriate behaviour with inmates. This has been mentioned in the FIR also.

At Sewa Kutir, Muzaffarpur, the TISS report cited disturbing instances of physical assault and verbal abuse reported by inmates. No document was made available to the audit team. The CBI FIR has further alleged improper medical facility, with even first aid box not available.

Shelter Homes indicted by TISS report: 17

FIRs lodged against: 9

FIRs against Shelter homes today:

Kaushal Kutir Shelter Home, Patna

Sewa Kutir, Muzaffarpur run by Om Sai Foundation

Short stay Home in Patna run by IKARD

Gram Swaraj Sewa Sansthan, Kudra, Kaimur

First Published: Jan 18, 2019 09:31 IST