Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into 16 more shelter homes abuse cases in Bihar following allegations that the state police was going ‘soft’ on the accused.
The Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case is already being investigated by the CBI.
A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur–which had on Tuesday pulled up the state police for filing ‘soft’ FIRs in most of these cases–rejected the Nitish Kumar government’s request for more time to satisfy it about the progress made in the investigations into these cases.
Initially, the CBI said it couldn’t take over probe into 16 additional shelter home abuse cases in view of the top court’s order in Alok Verma’s case restraining the interim CBI chief from taking major policy decisions. But the agency relented after the Bench clarified that it wouldn’t apply to the court orders.
The Bench–which also included Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Deepak Gupta–ordered that the CBI officers probing these cases couldn’t be changed without the top court’s permission.
The top court had on Tuesday pulled up Bihar Police for their failure to file correct FIRs under stringent provisions of law in shelter home abuse cases and given them 24 hours to add charges under Section 377 (sodomy) of the IPC and the POCSO Act in the FIRs.
“If we find that there were offences under Section 377 of the IPC and the POCSO Act and you did not register the FIRs we would pass order against the state government,” the Bench had said.
The petitioner had on Tuesday informed the court that the staff of the shelter home were involved in sexual abuse and physical violence and Bihar Police had been “soft” on the accused.
The offences fell under Section 377 of the IPC and POCSO Act but the state police registered cases under minor charges, the petitioner’s counsel alleged.
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, had found instances of aggravated offences in 17 shelter homes in Bihar. But criminal cases were registered only in connection with 10 under lesser offences. In one such case, TISS found sexual violence at a shelter home for boys but the FIR didn’t include stringent IPC provisions on sodomy. In another, a child who refused to cook food suffered a three-inch long scar on his cheek. In both cases, the state police filed a case only under the Juvenile Justice Act.
“Only God can save,” the Bench said and hinted at transferring all abuse cases highlighted in the TISS report to the CBI. “What are you (Bihar government) doing? It’s shameful. If the child is sodomised, you say it’s nothing. How can you do this? It’s inhuman. We were told that the matter would be looked into with great seriousness. This is seriousness? Every time I read this file, it’s tragic,” the court said.
The Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case which came to light in July was one of the 17 shelter homes indicted in a study by TISS. But criminal cases had been registered only against 10 shelter homes. This, too, was not done under the appropriate criminal provisions, the Bench noted.
The top court has been coming down heavily on the Bihar government for its handling of the probe into the Muzaffarpur shelter home where 30 of the 42 girls were allegedly sexually abused.
Former minister Manju Verma eventually surrendered earlier this month following a warning from the court. The CBI had seized ammunition from her home during a raid in connection with the sexual abuse scandal. She had to resign as social welfare minister in August after it came to light that her husband Chandrashekhar Verma was a frequent visitor to the Muzaffarpur shelter home.
