The Supreme Court today transferred the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case to Delhi..The Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna directed that the trial be shifted out of Muzaffarpur, Bihar..While transferring the case to a POCSO Court in Saket, New Delhi, the Court also directed for the trial to commence within two weeks. The Court added that the trial must be concluded within six months from the date of commencement. The State of Bihar has been directed to extend support and coordination to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to ensure that the witnesses in the trial are made available..CJI Gogoi also expressed displeasure at the State of Bihar, saying,.“You cannot let your officers treat unfortunate children the way they are being treated. Spare the children the agony!“.The case pertains to the rape and sexual abuse of inmates of a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, which was brought to the notice of the police in May last year..A social audit conducted by a team from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) had unearthed mass sexual exploitation among minor inmates of stay homes and shelters in Bihar..Among them, close to 30 minor girls in a Muzaffarpur shelter home are reported to have suffered sexual abuse. An FIR had been registered based on the TISS report in May. The CBI took over the investigation of the case at the request of the state..In August, last year, a Division Bench of Justices Madan Lokur (now retired) and Deepak Gupta took suo motu cognisance of the matter, after receiving a letter highlighting the case..Over the course of several hearings, the Bench expressed its displeasure over the lax manner in which the case was being handled by the Bihar authorities. Notably, the Bench had pulled up the authorities over their reluctance to charge the accused with serious offences in the FIR, as well as their inability to act against Child Welfare Committee member, Brajesh Thakur (in-charge of the shelter homes) and ex-cabinet minister Manju Verma, both of whom have been accused of playing a role in the allowing the abuse.
The Supreme Court today transferred the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case to Delhi..The Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna directed that the trial be shifted out of Muzaffarpur, Bihar..While transferring the case to a POCSO Court in Saket, New Delhi, the Court also directed for the trial to commence within two weeks. The Court added that the trial must be concluded within six months from the date of commencement. The State of Bihar has been directed to extend support and coordination to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to ensure that the witnesses in the trial are made available..CJI Gogoi also expressed displeasure at the State of Bihar, saying,.“You cannot let your officers treat unfortunate children the way they are being treated. Spare the children the agony!“.The case pertains to the rape and sexual abuse of inmates of a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, which was brought to the notice of the police in May last year..A social audit conducted by a team from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) had unearthed mass sexual exploitation among minor inmates of stay homes and shelters in Bihar..Among them, close to 30 minor girls in a Muzaffarpur shelter home are reported to have suffered sexual abuse. An FIR had been registered based on the TISS report in May. The CBI took over the investigation of the case at the request of the state..In August, last year, a Division Bench of Justices Madan Lokur (now retired) and Deepak Gupta took suo motu cognisance of the matter, after receiving a letter highlighting the case..Over the course of several hearings, the Bench expressed its displeasure over the lax manner in which the case was being handled by the Bihar authorities. Notably, the Bench had pulled up the authorities over their reluctance to charge the accused with serious offences in the FIR, as well as their inability to act against Child Welfare Committee member, Brajesh Thakur (in-charge of the shelter homes) and ex-cabinet minister Manju Verma, both of whom have been accused of playing a role in the allowing the abuse.
