Muzaffarpur Shelter Home: SC terms as 'horrible' and 'scary' details placed before it by CBI
New Delhi, Oct 25 : The Supreme Court Thursday termed as "horrible" and "scary" details placed before it about the investigation into the case of Muzaffarpur shelter home where several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused.
A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur perused the status report filed by the CBI and said "what is this going on? This is horrible".
The apex court also took note of the allegations referred by CBI against shelter home owner Brajesh Thakur and issued notice to him to explain why he should not be transferred to a jail outside the state.
The CBI in its report had alleged that Thakur is an influential person and a mobile phone was recovered from him inside the jail where he is currently lodged under judicial custody.
The bench also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta noted that Thakur is an influential person
The top court also asked Bihar and he CBI to explain the delay in tracing the whereabouts of ex-minister Manju Verma's husband Chandrashekhar Verma.
It had asked the Bihar Police to investigate the former minister and her husband in connection with the recovery of huge quantity of ammunition from them.
Verma had to resign as the minister of Social Welfare from the Bihar government in the wake of the Muzzafarpur shelter home sexual abuse case.
The bench also made it clear that the CBI team investigating the case should not be changed and posted the matter for hearing on October 30.
The apex court had on September 18 stayed a Patna High Court order to set up a fresh CBI team to probe the case, saying such a move would not only be detrimental to the ongoing investigation but also to victims.
It had said that there was no reason now to change the existing investigating team, which was set up by the CBI Director, and directed the investigation to continue under the same team which was set up on July 30.
Earlier, the bench had said that the investigation seems to be going in the right direction and had also asked the Income Tax Department to look into assets of the NGO which was running the shelter home and its owner Thakur.
The apex court had also noted that no allegations were made against the team probing the case with regard to the manner in which the investigation was being conducted.
Over 30 girls were allegedly raped at the shelter home.The alleged sexual exploitation of the girls was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to the state's social welfare department.
In all, the sexual abuse of 34 of the 42 inmates was confirmed in their medical examination. The TISS audit report had said that many girls at the shelter home had complained of sexual abuse.
An FIR was lodged against 11 people, including Thakur, on May 31. The probe was later taken over by the CBI.
A special investigation team was formed to probe the complaints. The NGO running the shelter home in Muzaffarpur was blacklisted and the girls were shifted to shelter homes in Patna and Madhubani. Women staff members of the shelter home and Thakur were among those who were arrested by the police in connection with the case.
The apex court had earlier taken cognizance of the matter after it received a letter from one Ranvijay Kumar, who had expressed concern that the alleged victims were subjected to media interviews.
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RSS needs to increase activism on social media as work expands: Bhagwat
Nagpur (PTI): Social media is widely used, and there is a need for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to increase “activism” on such platforms for a good cause, said RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday.
He was speaking at the centenary event of the Marathi newspaper Tarun Bharat in Nagpur.
The RSS chief said that while social media is used extensively by people, it should be utilised for a good cause.
“Memes and reels are already in circulation. Some content is being disseminated through the RSS’ communication department, and our volunteers are also using social media. This will gain acceptance. I won’t call it an expectation, but we will have to increase our activism there,” he said.
Bringing people together and transforming society were both necessary and mutually reinforcing, he said.
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When a committed volunteer is developed, they take up constructive work, which spreads through society and contributes to desired change, said the RSS chief.
Bhagwat said the RSS’s work was expanding and required decentralisation.
As public expectations had grown, there was increasing demand for volunteers across sectors, making smaller units necessary for better efficiency, according to the RSS chief.
He said that the organisation’s expanding work also required periodic interaction with the government and administration, for which a separate coordination mechanism was being created.
A “pradesh-level” unit was being set up to handle such coordination and address hurdles, he added.
