The Supreme Court on Thursday, took suo motu cognisance of alleged rape of minor girls in a shelter home run by an NGO in Muzzafarpur, Bihar. It has issued a notice to Bihar government and the Centre in the matter.
The Supreme Court has also restrained electronic media from telecasting and using images and videos of minor rape victims. The pictures, even in morphed form, should not be used, the court observed.
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The alleged sexual exploitation of the girls was uncovered more than a month ago by a Mumbai-based social science institute. Though it had submitted the report in April, the Bihar social welfare department approved another project by the prime accused on May 31 for beggars’ shelter in Patna.
On July 28, the Bihar police claimed that 34 of 40 girls, who were rescued from the state-funded shelter home in Muzzafarnagar, were raped or molested. Eleven employees of the shelter home were arrested.
Brijesh Thakur is the prime accused in Muzaffarpur’s shelter home case. On Sunday the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over and registered a case against the officers and employees of the shelter home. The CBI registered the case on the request of the Bihar Government, and following the notification of the Central Government.
The probe agency took over the investigation from Muzaffarpur’s Mahila Police Station where the case was registered on May 31, under Section 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 376 (outraging the modesty of a woman), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 4, 6, 8,10,12 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO).