Verdict in Muzaffarpur shelter home case likely on Thursday

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court is likely to deliver its verdict on Thursday in the case of alleged sexual and physical assault of several girls at a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, which was run by former Bihar People's Party (BPP) MLA Brajesh Thakur.

Delhi's Saket court will pronounce its judgement on the main accused Thakur and 21 others in the case registered under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and entails life imprisonment as the maximum punishment.

The court had concluded hearing the final arguments in the case on September 30 and reserved its order.

It is likely that all the accused will be sentenced to from 10 years in jail to life imprisonment in the case in which several officials belonging to the social welfare department of the state are also accused.

The court had on March 20, 2018, framed charges against the accused, including Brajesh Thakur, for offences of criminal conspiracy to commit rape and penetrative sexual assault against minors. The employees of his shelter home and Bihar department of social welfare officials were charged with criminal conspiracy, neglect of duty and failure to report an assault on the girls.

The charges also included offence of cruelty to child under their authority, punishable under the Juvenile Justice Act.

All the accused, who appeared before the court, pleaded innocence and claimed trial.

The CBI was handed over the investigation into the case after the matter came into light after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report to the Bihar government highlighting the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls in the shelter home for the first time.

On February 7, the case was transferred 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.