Muzaffarpur shelter rape case: Cops discover secret stairs, recover drugs given to girls

MUZAFFARPUR: Secret stairs leading out of the Muzaffarpur shelter house to a press in the same building have been found during the probe into allegations of rape of 42 girls at the complex. The secret stairs were found by a team of Muzaffarpur IG Sunil Kumar and DIG Anil Kumar on Saturday.

Along with the stairs, the medicines administered to the girls have also been recovered from the shelter house. A team of State Forensic Laboratory (SFL) have been asked to inspect the beds and nursing room to look for any leads into the case. 

Meanwhile, medical examinations have revealed that five more girls had suffered sexual abuse at the shelter home, taking the total number of victims to 34 of 42. Bihar’s Director General of Police (DGP) KS Dwivedi had earlier said 10 of the 11 accused have been arrested. He also said four girls were reported missing from the shelter home since December 2013.

The abuse at the shelter home came to light after a girl alleged that her fellow inmate had been beaten to death and buried on the premises. Following the complaint, a police team dug up the ground but did not found any body there. Muzaffarpur SSP Harpreet Kaur had said that the area of excavation might be enlarged after further examination of the girl who had levelled the allegation. 

More than 40 girls had been lodged at the shelter home and medical reports suggest that over half of them may have had sexual intercourse at some point of time. The NGO running the shelter home has been blacklisted and all the girls have been moved to shelter homes in other districts while the premises has been sealed.

Under pressure from the opposition, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had on Thursday recommended a CBI probe.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav had on Saturday attacked the government alleging that they are staring at statelessness in Bihar. "Women are getting abducted akin to what Ravana did to Sita. Girls are getting raped, abducted. The state is now being ruled by Ravana," he said. 

The Congress too questioned of this case was an example of "good governance model" of the ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance. "We want to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his partner in crime, Nitish Kumar when will they speak a word on this gruesome (Muzaffarpur) incident," he said. Gohil said he is termed as "sushan babu" (good governance man) and asked,"Is this the good governance model of the BJP-JDU?"