Opposition parties on Saturday trained their guns on the NDA government in Bihar over the escape of seven minor girls from a short stay home in Mokama alleging a “conspiracy aimed at thwarting” the Supreme Court monitored probe into Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case from reaching a logical conclusion.

The seven girls were found later in the day in Darbhanga town. Five of the girls are witnesses of the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual exploitation case, whose trial is to be held in a fast track court in Delhi’s Saket.

Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav led the charge to target the government. “Remaining witnesses in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case have been abducted. Who is daring to carry out such an act in a SC monitored case and at whose behest,” Yadav asked in a tweet.

The RJD leader alleged that the victim girls, who were moved to Mokama for safety reasons, were still not safe. “Who are the persons in the top echelons of power corridor to directly benefit from the disappearance of the victims?” he asked, alluding to a conspiracy.

Terming the lapse in ensuring safety and well being of Muzaffarpur shelter home victims, lodged in Mokama short stay home, as a very serious lapse, Bihar Congress unit president Madan Mohan Jha said, “The development points at conspiracy to neutralise the probe and hints at the involvement of senior administrative officials, without which it does not seem possible.”

Demanding strong action, Jha said that the government must initiate serious efforts to nab and expose those involved in the conspiracy to deny justice for the hapless victims. “The security lapse has to be probed. It acquires significance in the backdrop of a similar instance on August 3 last year, when a 13-year-old girl, also a witness in the sexual exploitation case, had gone missing from Madhubani,” he said.

RLSP chief and former union minister Upendra Kushwaha also attacked the government. “It appears that the inmates have not fled, but have been assisted by the government in running away from the Mokama short stay home. The chief minister should immediately resign,” he said

In a strong rebuttal to the Opposition’s charges, BJP state vice president Devesh Thakur said, “Everything is being probed. The government always co-operates with the CBI. This is a case of lapse in security and guilty will face action.”

First Published: Feb 24, 2019 09:03 IST