Delhi court likely to pronounce judgment in Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases on Friday; ex-MLA Brajesh Thakur key accused

New Delhi: A Delhi court is likely to pronounce on Thursday its judgment in the case of alleged sexual and physical assault of several girls at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, which was run by former Bihar People’s Party (BPP) MLA Brajesh Thakur. The court had earlier deferred the order by a month till 12 December as 20 accused, who are currently lodged in Tihar central jail, could not be brought to court premises due to the ongoing lawyers’ strike in all six district courts in the national capital. The court had on 20 March, 2018, framed charges against the accused, including Thakur, for offences of criminal conspiracy to commit rape and penetrative sexual assault against minors. [caption id=“attachment_4925221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Muzaffarpur shelter home where sexual abuses were reported. Image courtesy: News18[/caption] The accused included eight females and 12 males. The court had held the trial for the offences of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, drugging of minors, criminal intimidation among other charges. Key accused Thakur and employees of his shelter home, as well as Bihar department of social welfare officials, were charged with criminal conspiracy, neglect of duty and failure to report the assault on the girls. The charges also included the offence of cruelty to child under their authority, punishable under the Juvenile Justice Act. All the accused, who appeared before the court, pleaded innocence and claimed trial. The offences entail a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The court had reserved order on 30 September after final arguments by the CBI counsel and 20 accused in the case in which former Bihar Social Welfare Minister and the then JD(U) leader Manju Verma also faced flak as allegations surfaced that Thakur had links with her husband. She had resigned from her post on 8 August, 2018. The CBI had told a special court that there was enough evidence against all the accused in the case. However, those accused have claimed that the CBI had not conducted a “fair investigation” into the case, which has been registered under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and entails life imprisonment as the maximum punishment. Additional Sessions Judge Kulshreshtha, during the in-camera trial, concluded the arguments in the case which had begun on 25 February this year. The case was transferred on 7 February 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. During the trial, counsel for the CBI told the court that the statements of minor girls, who were allegedly sexually assaulted, point to the fact that there was enough evidence against all the accused and they should be convicted. The matter had come to light following after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report to the Bihar government on 26 May, 2018, highlighting the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls in the shelter home for the first time. On 29 May last year, the state government shifted the girls from the shelter home to other protection homes. On 31 May, 2018, an FIR was lodged against the 11 accused in the case. The top court had on 2 August taken cognisance of the alleged sexual assaults of about 30 minor girls in Muzaffarpur’s shelter home and transferred the probe to the CBI on 28 November.