The Central Bureau of Investigation informed a Delhi court on Wednesday, 27 February, that it has appointed two Special Public Prosecutors (SPPs) in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual assault case, after which both sides were directed to positively commence arguments on framing of charges from 2 March.
Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha told the CBI that if the agency wanted to file a supplementary charge sheet in the matter, it has to be done within 15 days.
Advocates Amit Jindal and R N Sinha were appointed as SPPs by the CBI
Jindal told the court that he received the notification for his appointment from the agency last night and sought time to prepare his arguments on the framing of charges.
The CBI will advance the arguments first on Saturday, 2 March, the next date of hearing.
On Monday, the court had rapped the CBI for the delay in notifying SPP in the sexual assault case and warned that any laxity to comply with the court's order will amount to contempt and action would be taken against the agency.
"Do not expect the court to wait for one week for the notification to come. You are as much bound by the Supreme Court order as I am. Do not take me to that stage that I should write to the Supreme Court that the CBI is in contempt of the order initiated by the court," the judge had said.
The apex court had on 7 February ordered that the shelter home sexual assault case be transferred from Bihar to a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court at Saket district court complex in Delhi, which would conclude the trial within six months by preferably holding a day-to-day trial.
Several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur in Bihar. The issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
On the TISS report, the apex court had said, it raised grave concern about 17 shelter homes in Bihar and the CBI must look into all of them. Of these, the Muzaffarpur case was already being looked into by the CBI.
In the Muzaffarpur shelter home case, an FIR was lodged on 31 May 2018 against 11 people following the TISS report.
The probe was later taken over by the CBI and 21 people were named as accused in its charge sheet filed before a special court in Patna.
The CBI had on 19 December last year filed a voluminous charge sheet in which owner of the NGO which ran the home, Brajesh Thakur, his employees, his associate Shaista Parveen and a government officer Rekha Rani, have been named.
The amicus curiae had also told the apex court that there were 1,028 shelter homes across India where instances of sexual and physical abuse have been reported.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)