13-year-old witness in Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case untraceable: Cops

A guard was arrested over dereliction of duty that allowed the girl to escape.

A 13-year-old girl, who was one of the prime witnesses in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case and among the 44 inmates shifted to Madhubani in May 2018, is untraceable despite over two-year search.

An eye witness shows the spot where a girl was allegedly beaten and killed by a staff member at a state-funded shelter home, in Muzaffarpur district on Monday, July 23, 2018. A girl of the home has alleged that one of her fellow inmates was beaten to death and buried at the premises of the facility, and several were raped. (PTI)

A police complaint was lodged saying the girl escaped from a Madhubani shelter home on July 11, 2018. “Police carried out raids to trace the girl, who is speech impaired. However, she is still untraceable,” said station house officer Arun Kumar Roy. “Nobody knows her actual address.”

A committee formed to probe the disappearance has been not made much progress. It had earlier emerged that the Madhubani shelter home did not even have CCTV cameras.

A guard was arrested over dereliction of duty that allowed the girl to escape. Ranjit Ranjan, then a Parliament member, had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha.

The 13-year-old was one of 14 minor girls transferred to the shelter home in Madhubani run by non-governmental organisation Parihar Seva Sansthan.