Oppn seeks CBI probe into Bihar shelter rape case

The Opposition in Bihar on Monday sought a CBI probe into the sexual abuse of several girls staying at different shelter homes in the state.

The demand was made even as a local court ordered excavation in one such shelter home in Muzaffarpur where a girl was reportedly raped, killed and buried on the premises.

More than 16 girls are reported to have been sexually assaulted by those running the shelter homes for destitutes and socially abandoned women. This exploitation, which took place in the last two years, would have remained largely unnoticed had the Bihar Government not roped in Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) for social audit of such centres, including Muzaffarpur and Chapra.

Two such girls, who were sexually abused earlier but have now been shifted to Patna, told a local court that one of their inmates was thrashed, raped and killed by the office-bearers of the NGO Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti in Muzaffarpur. “Since the statement was made under Section 164 of the CrPC, the court ordered the Muzaffarpur district administration to exhume the body,” informed a senior police officer.

The Muzaffarpur district administration on Monday carried out excavation work but could not locate the body. “We will try excavation at other places too if the girls indicate,” said Senior SP (SSP) of Muzaffarpur, Harpreet Kaur.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav on Monday asked the Nitish Kumar government to order a CBI probe into the sordid affair, “as many heavyweight leaders were suspected to be behind the exploitation of girls in such shelter homes.”

In Bihar, the state government runs shelter homes for destitutes through NGOs. Such shelter homes, now sealed, were functioning in 28 out of the 38 districts of Bihar.