In a shocking revelation, the CBI has revealed that girls at the Muzaffarpur shelter home in Bihar were raped, tortured and made to dance to vulgar songs to please special guests. The federal probe agency has stated this and other ghastly details in its 73-page charge-sheet, filed against the prime accused Brajesh Thakur.
“Those refusing to entertain the guests were offered only roti and salt at night, while those who danced were given good food,” Hindustan Times quoted the CBI charge-sheet.
Thakur, who the Supreme Court had termed as a very influential man, had links to top government officials and ministers in Bihar. Manju Verma’s husband, known as netaji, would often visit the shelter home to sexually exploit the girls there. Verma had to resign from her post in August this year but only after weeks of protests and criticism from the opposition and media. Ironically, she held the Social Welfare Ministry’s portfolio when helpless girls were being tortured and raped by her husband at the shelter home.
The Supreme Court had come down heavily on the state’s BJP-JDU government for its slow progress in probing the matter and arresting the accused. Thakur was later shifted out of a Bihar jail to Punjab.
The key accused named in the charge-sheet are Indu Kumari, Minu Kumari, Manju Devi, Chanda Devi, Neha Kumari, Hema Masih, Kiran Kumari, Saista Pervin alias Madhu, Dr Pramila, Kiran Kumari, Ramanuj Thakur alias Mamu, Ramashankar Singh alias Master Saheb, Ravi Kumar Roshan, Vikas Kumar, Dilip Kumar Verma, Vijay Kumar Tiwari, Guddu Kumar Patel alias Gudddu, Krishna Kumar Ram alias Krishna, Rozy Rani, and Dr Ashwini alias Asmani .
According to the charge-sheet, as reported by Hindustan Times, Roshan, who was a child protection officer, allegedly exploited the girls, while Vikash Kumar, a member of the child welfare committee, often raped the girls after drugging them with sleeping pills. Dilip Kumar Verma, CWC chairman, who was referred by the victims as ‘ganda aadmi’ (dirty man) was accused of raping the minors.
The state government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had come under widespread criticism for its inaction for months even though the audit by Tata Institute of Social Science had highlighted the brutalities being committed at the shelter home way back in February last year.
The shelter home building in Muzaffarpur has now been razed.