Upon reaching Patna on Thursday, Opposition leader in the Bihar Assembly and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Tejashwi Yadav expressed “shock” over the incident of an inmate of an aftercare home in Gaighat locality of the city alleging sexual abuse after being sedated and tortured physically.
The Patna High Court on February 2 took suo motu cognizance of a viral video in which the inmate, who somehow managed to come out of the aftercare care home earlier, was seen accusing a top official of the home of sexual abuse and other physical torture. The court fixed the next date of hearing on February 7.
In 2019, Bihar was rocked by news of sexual and physical exploitation of 34 girls at a remand home in Muzaffarpur district.
“It is a shocking incident which has come three-four days ago of a girl of Uttar Raksha Griha [aftercare home] in Patna accusing a top official there of sexual and physical torture. I’ll first inquire into the matter in detail and then make my statement on it”, said Mr. Yadav upon reaching Patna on Thursday.
Hits out at CM
He took a jibe at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the “failure” of his government to identify ‘tond wale uncle [pot-bellied uncle] and moonch wale uncle [uncle with moustache]’ who allegedly frequented the Muzaffarpur shelter home as accused by the victims in their statement.
A Division Bench of the the High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S. Kumar asked why there was no FIR lodged into the incident. In the video, which went viral on social media on February 1, the girl alleged that she along with other inmates were forced into sexual exploitation after being sedated and physically tortured at the behest of the superintendent of the aftercare home. She also alleged in the video that strangers visited the aftercare home at night and sometimes the inmates were sent with them on the pretext of their relatives and family members. She further alleged that a girl who resisted the harassment was even killed and the incident was termed suicide.
“No FIR has been registered on such a disclosure of the victim. Even more surprising is that the Director General of the Social Welfare Department has conducted an inquiry and only on the basis of the CCTV footage installed in the aftercare home has come to the conclusion that the accusation made by the so-called victim is baseless and false. It does not appear that an inquiry was made with the victim”, observed the High Court on February 2.
Baseless: department
Earlier, the Social Welfare Department, after conducting an inquiry into the girl’s allegation, termed it “baseless”. The court added, “….another shocking disclosure has been made by her [the victim girl] that strangers are permitted to masquerade as relatives of the victims who come and pick up such hapless women”.
“The aforesaid news…is yet again societal / collective failure and shame in not containing such offences, even after this state and the nation read about the happenings in Muzaffarpur [the shelter home case in which 12 were sentenced to life]”, the court said.
“We had investigated the matter and also studied the CCTV footage but we will respond to the honorable court after looking into the issue thoroughly and its suggestions”, Social Welfare Department director Rajkumar told media persons. Earlier, Social Welfare Department Minister Madan Sahni said the preliminary investigation “didn’t corroborate the allegations leveled by the girl inmate but the department is serious on the issue”.
