Apex court transfers Muzaffarpur shelter home case to Delhi

NEW DELHI: In order to ensure free, fair and speedy trial in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, the Supreme Court on Thursday transferred the case to a Delhi court and slammed the state government for its failure to protect children living in state-funded shelter homes.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna directed that the accused would be tried in a special court set up under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act at Saket District Court in Delhi and asked the trial judge to wrap up the proceedings within six months.

The trial was transferred as the accused in the case are highly influential and politically connected. The SC had in October directed shifting of prime accused Brajesh Thakur from Bihar to Patiala jail in Punjab to ensure free and fair probe after the CBI alleged that he continued to wield influence the probe from inside Bhagalpur jail.

In its probe report, the CBI had alleged that the Muzaffarpur shelter home crime was not only about molestation and rape but it was likely that some girls who went missing from the home were killed.

At the outset, the bench asked the Bihar government to furnish all information on management of shelter homes in the state and how many inmates were living there.

“We are asking you how you are running the government and we are entitled to know. You cannot let these things happen in the state. You cannot let your officers treat children like this. Spare the children,” the bench said.