Muzaffarpur shelter home case: 11 convicts get life imprisonment

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday sent eleven convicts to jail for life in connection with sexual and physical assault of several girls at a shelter home in Bihar`s Muzaffarpur district.

Additional Session Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha of the Saket court also ordered the imprisonment of NGO owner Brajesh Thakur and five others for the remainder of their life.

Thakur has been slapped with a fine of thirty-two lakh and twenty thousand rupees. He heads a state-funded NGO named Sewa Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti which ran the shelter home at Muzaffarpur.

"We will file an appeal in the court against the order," advocate Nishaank Mattoo, appearing for Brajesh Thakur said.

The court had on January 20 convicted a total of 19 accused in connection with the case.

Thakur, a former Bihar People`s Party legislator, was held guilty under Sections 376 (rape), 376D (gangrape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 109 (abetment) of the Indian Penal Code.

He was also found guilty under Section 6 and 17 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act. The court, however, acquitted one accused.

The case pertains to the allegation that several girl inmates of the shelter home were sexually assaulted.

The matter came to light following a report published by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Thakur was the prime accused in the case while others were employees of his shelter home and Bihar Social Welfare Department officials.

The case was transferred from Bihar Police to the CBI in July 2018.

The court had on March 20, 2019, framed charges against the accused of offenses of criminal conspiracy to commit rape and penetrative sexual assault against minors.

The case was, however, transferred from a local court in Muzaffarpur in Bihar to the POCSO court at Saket in Delhi last year on the Supreme Court`s directions.