Muzaffarpur shelter home rape horror: Why the Bihar government took two months to file an FIR about 11 missing women
In a new development in the case of the reported sexual exploitation of women and children in Muzaffarpur's shelter homes, the police have filed a second FIR against Brajesh Thakur, who ran the shelter, because at least 11 women and four children are reportedly missing from the facility.
Shockingly, while it was found that the women were missing on June 9, the FIR was filed only on July 29.
Assistant director of the Bihar social welfare department, Divesh Kumar Sharma, has confirmed that the inmates are indeed missing.
This is a shocking indictment of the social welfare department, which functions under Manju Verma, as well as the state government, under 'Sushasan Babu', CM Nitish Kumar.
Horrifying tales of rampant rape and sexual exploitation in Bihar's shelter home came to the fore after the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in February submitted a social audit report, commissioned by the state government, delineating stories of how women and children (both girls and boys) were facing sexual harassment at these homes.
A government investigation that began in March following the TISS report found that at least 34 girls aged between seven and 18 years were reportedly raped in a shelter home, run by Thakur in Muzaffarpur district.
A FIR was filed against Thakur in May and he was arrested in June.
A deeper probe found that Thakur ran another shelter home in the district that housed homeless women and children.
When government officials reached the Chaturbhuj Sthan home for women on March 20, they found 11 women and four children inmates there. This was communicated to the top officials of the district administration and social welfare department. On June 9, another government team found the shelter home locked — and its inmates missing.
In a pathetic case of apathy, the government, which was already aware of what the inmates of shelter homes were undergoing, sat on the report that 11 women and four children had gone missing, without a trace, for almost two months.
Nobody bothered about the homeless missing people, the children who had seemingly vanished. They were allowed to stay put in the shelter, knowing what was happening to them over there. And then, as the case generated political heat, officials went to check on them. On finding them missing, no effort was made to trace them. Not even an FIR was lodged till July 29, by when the matter had become a topic of national debate.
This is a shocking reflection of the worth India places on its marginalised people. That it should happen under 'Sushasan Babu' is an even greater tragedy.