Nitish Kumar orders CBI probe into Muzaffarpur shelter rapes of 40 girls

Police personnel detain a few Mahila Congress members, who were holding a protest against the rapes at the shelter home, outside the Bihar Assembly in Patna. Pic/PTI

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has ordered a CBI probe into the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, where 40 girls were allegedly exploited sexually. Kumar wrote a letter to the state's chief secretary, principal secretary and the director general of police (DGP) to hand over the probe of the case to the CBI.

Eleven employees of the shelter home have been arrested so far. The police had raided the premises on Monday and rescued 44 girls. Bihar DGP K S Dwivedi said medical reports of 29 girls indicated sexual contact was established with them.

Terming the incident "deplorable", the decision to hand over the case to the CBI was taken to prevent rumour-mongering in the state, an official release said. "A deplorable incident has taken place in Muzaffarpur... Although the government was committed to conducting an impartial probe, the decision for handing over the probe to the CBI has been taken to dispel the 'bhram ka vatavaran' (environment of rumours/falsehood) being created."

Opposition MLAs protested in the state Assembly, demanding that the probe be monitored by the high court. Terming the incident unfortunate, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the state of shielding the culprits.

Assembly paralysed
The Bihar Assembly was paralysed on the issue for the third consecutive day yesterday with Opposition leaders demanding the sacking of Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma, after the wife of the arrested district child protection officer alleged that her husband, a government official, was falsely implicated to "shield" Verma's husband who frequented the facility and spent "long hours in the girls' rooms" at the shelter home. Verma strongly opposed the allegation, calling it "politically motivated".

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