Muzaffarpur Shelter Home Case: Brajesh Thakur, 18 Others Convicted

Brajesh Thakur, main accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case.

(Photo: PTI)

A Delhi court on Monday, 20 January, convicted 19 accused for sexual and physical assault on several girls at a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, including the shelter home's owner, Brajesh Thakur.

Further, the court has listed the matter for argument on quantum of sentence on 28 January.

Thakur was convicted for aggravated sexual assault under the POCSO Act and gang rape in the case by Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha. 

One accused was also acquitted by the court on Monday.

WHAT WAS THE CASE ALL ABOUT?

The shelter home in question was run by Thakur, former MLA of Bihar People's Party (BPP).

The court had on 30 March 2019, framed charges against the accused, including Thakur, for offences of criminal conspiracy to commit rape and penetrative sexual assault against minors.

It had held trial for the offences of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, drugging of minors and criminal intimidation among, other charges.

Thakur and employees of his shelter home, as well as officials of the Bihar Department of Social Welfare were charged with criminal conspiracy, neglect of duty and failure to report assault on the girls, reported PTI.

The case also led to former Bihar Social Welfare Minister and the then JD(U) leader Manju Verma facing flak as allegations surfaced that Thakur had links with her husband. She had resigned from her post on 8 August 2018.

The case was transferred on 7 February 2019 from a local court in Muzaffarpur in Bihar to a POCSO court at Saket district court complex in Delhi on the Supreme Court's directions.

THE ROLE OF THE TISS REPORT

In May 2018, reports of repeated sexual abuse of inmates at a short stay home in Muzaffarpur surfaced after Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) carried out a social audit of shelter homes across Bihar for 2017.

The audit report pointed to sexual abuse of girls at the Muzaffarpur short-stay home. TISS submitted its report in April 2018 and the government, after its review, registered the FIR on 31 May 2018.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)