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‘Matter of shame,’ says Nitish Kumar on Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes, wants court to monitor CBI probe
Over 30 girls were allegedly raped and tortured at the shelter home in Muzaffarpur district.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday termed the alleged rapes committed at a government-funded girls’ shelter in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur as a “matter of shame”.
“We are shamed by such an incident occurring in our state. The CBI probe into the case should be monitored by the high court,” he said.
Over 30 girls were allegedly raped and tortured at the shelter home in Muzaffarpur district. With a medical board of the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) confirming that a majority of the inmates were sexually abused, Kumar is under intense pressure to act against the culprits. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav has even accused the ruling JDU-BJP government of shielding the culprits.
“We will stage a dharna against the heinous institutional mass rape in Muzaffarpur, sponsored and protected by the Nitish Kumar government, at Jantar Mantar on August 4. Request everybody to attend,” the RJD leader tweeted recently.
The owner of the girls’ shelter, Brajesh Thakur, is said to have political connections.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court banned the media from using photographs of the victims even if they have been blurred. It also asked the media to refrain from interviewing the girls because they “should not be compelled to relive their trauma repeatedly”.
The Tata Institute of Social Sciences had uncovered the sexual abuse scam while performing a social audit of 110 institutions across Bihar in May. The CBI took over the case a few days ago.
