Muzaffarpur shelter home: CBI opposes Brajesh Thakur’s plea to suspend Rs 32 lakh fine

The CBI Tuesday opposed in the Delhi High Court a plea by Brajesh Thakur, sentenced to life imprisonment till his last breath for sexually assaulting several girls in a shelter home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district, seeking suspension of Rs 32.20 lakh fine imposed on him.

The CBI said no prejudice will be caused to Thakur by imposition of fine as he has been convicted on multiple counts of aggravated penetrative sexual assault, conspiracy, abetment and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The probe agency said in its reply that the fine imposed is just, fair and in the interest of justice and Thakur is liable and bound to pay the amount.

The matter came up before a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar which noted that the CBI’s reply was not on record and directed the counsel to ensure that it is placed before it.

The high court was hearing appeals filed by Thakur and co-convict Dilip Verma, then the Chairman of Child Welfare Committee, challenging the trial court’s verdict.

Verma was also sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of life by the trial court in the case.

As the trial court record is bulky, consisting of 86,000 pages, the high court asked senior advocate Mohit Mathur, appearing for Verma, and lawyer Pramod Kumar Dubey, representing Thakur, to prepare a compilation of relevant documents and file it.

The bench also directed that the latest nominal rolls of both the convicts be also called from the jail and listed the matter for further hearing on September 15.

The CBI, in its reply through Special Public Prosecutor Rajesh Kumar, said the application for suspension of fine is devoid of merit and the trial court rightly convicted Thakur and there is no infirmity in the judgement.

The CBI denied the claim of Thakur that all his assets are attached by the Enforcement Directorate.

“No document has been placed on record by the applicant (Thakur) which shows that he ever tried for making the payment of fine from his assets and other properties. Further it is for the applicant to make arrangements for payment of fine,” it said.

The high court had earlier issued notice to the CBI on the appeals seeking to set aside trial court’s January 20 judgment convicting him in the case and February 11 sentencing order.

A trial court here had sentenced Thakur to "rigorous imprisonment till remainder of his life" and imposed a hefty fine of Rs 32.20 lakh on him, saying he was the "kingpin" of a "meticulously planned" conspiracy and "displayed extreme perversity".

Besides Thakur, who once unsuccessfully contested assembly polls on Bihar People's Party (BPP) ticket, the trial court has also sent others to jail for life in the case.

The appeal also raised the issue that potency of an accused is one of the foundational facts which the prosecution has to establish in a case related to rape and said neither the Bihar Police nor CBI had conducted the potency test of Thakur.

“The trial court has failed to appreciate that there is no presumption under law that a person who is more than 50 years of age and admittedly suffering from high blood sugar has to be potent…. Without establishing the potency of the accused specially one who is more than 50 years of age the accused cannot be convicted of the offence of rape,” it contended.

The trial court on January 20, had convicted Thakur of several offences including aggravated penetrative sexual assault under section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and offences of rape and gang rape under the Indian Penal code (IPC).

Besides Thakur and Verma, it had sentenced Child protection officer of District Child Protection Unit Ravi Roshan; member of Child Welfare Committee Vikas Kumar; Guddu Vijay; Kumar Tiwari; Guddu Patel; Kishan Kumar and Ramanuj Thakur to imprisonment for remainder of life in the case.

It had also send three women -- Minu Devi, Kiran Kumari and Shaista Praveen -- to jail for life for abetment to rape.

The trial court had sentenced Rama Shankar, Ashwani, Manju Devi, Chanda Devi, Neha Kumari and Hema Masih to 10 years in prison, and Indu Kumari to three years jail term. It had imposed varying fines on the convicts.

It had also granted a compensation of Rs 5.50 lakh to three of the rape victims; Rs 6 lakh to one of the victims, Rs 9 lakh to another victim, Rs 40,000 each to two of the victims and Rs 25,000 to another victim.

Former Bihar Social Welfare Minister and the then JD(U) leader Manju Verma had also faced flak when allegations surfaced that her husband had links with Brajesh Thakur. She resigned from her post on August 8, 2018.

The case was transferred on February 7, 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 matter had come to light on May 26, 2018 after Tata Institute of Social Sciences submitted a report to the Bihar government highlighting the alleged sexual abuse of girls in the shelter home for the first time.