Muzaffarpur shelter home case: Brajesh Thakur, 18 others convicted for sexually assaulting girls

A Delhi Court on Monday convicted 19 persons, including main accused Brajesh Thakur, in connection with sexual and physical assault of girls at a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district. Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha convicted Thakur for aggravated sexual assault under POCSO Act and gang rape. The court acquitted one of the accused in the case.

Former Bihar People's Party (BPP) MLA Brajesh Thakur, who ran the shelter where many girls were raped and assaulted, was convicted for aggravated sexual assault under POCSO Act and gang rape.

The court on March 20, 2018 had framed charges against the accused, including Brajesh Thakur, for offences of criminal conspiracy to commit rape and penetrative sexual assault against minors. The accused included eight females and 12 males.

The case

The matter had come to light after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report to the Bihar government on May 26, 2018, highlighting the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls in the shelter home for the first time.

On May 29, 2018, the Bihar government shifted the girls from the shelter home to other protection homes. An FIR was lodged against the 11 accused in the case on May 31, 2018.

The SC on August 2 took cognisance of the alleged sexual assaults of about 30 minor girls in Muzaffarpur's shelter home and transferred the probe to the CBI on November 28.

Brajesh Thakur's plea claiming witnesses not reliable dismissed

The court had on Saturday dismissed a plea filed by Brajesh Thakur, which claimed testimonies of witnesses in the case were not reliable.

During proceedings, Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha had rejected the plea on the ground that the case of sexual assault was different from the case of alleged murder of some of the girls in the shelter home, said a lawyer privy to the matter.

The CBI had told the court that the probe agency had just given an interim report in the Supreme Court stating they had found no evidence against the allegations of murder and in fact the girls who were believed to have been murdered were found to be alive, the lawyer had said.

The case of alleged murder of girls in the shelter home and the case of alleged sexual assault were two different cases, the CBI had said.

Also read | 'No proof of girls being killed inside Bihar home’

Also read | Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal: ED seizes 12 properties of main accused Brajesh Thakur

Also watch | Terror situation prevailed at Muzaffarpur shelter home: Tiss report