SC slams Bihar govt over shelter home abuse case, transfers case trial to Delhi

New Delhi: The Supreme Court rebuked the Bihar government on Thursday over incomplete information of the status of shelter homes in the state and transferred the case trial of Muzaffarnagar shelter home to Saket court in Delhi. The court said the trial should be completed in 6 months and no extension of time should be sought.

“Enough is enough, give us details of 110 shelter homes in the state. How many inmates are there? How is the state giving assistance and what is the number of male and female inmates?" said Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

The Supreme Court bench said the Bihar chief secretary will be summoned if the lawyer representing the state can’t answer the court’s questions.

The top court also pulled up the government for the transfer of joint CBI director and supervising officer in the case A K Sharma.

Last month, the CBI had registered two fresh FIRs on the alleged abuse of children in two shelter homes in Gaya and Bhagalpur. This is in addition to its ongoing probe into sexual assault with minor girls at the Muzaffarpur shelter home.

The Supreme Court had directed the CBI to probe alleged abuse of inmates at 17 shelter homes listed in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) study.

According to the FIR, the TISS deals with 17 shelter homes in Bihar put under the category of ‘Grave Concerns’. CBI found that only one member of the staff in support of the children at the Bhagalpur home, for which he was targeted by the NGO’s secretary. The director and other officials ran the shelter home in violation of provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Supreme Court is seeming to be quite rigid over the much controversial shelter home case that created ripples in the society and is firm over its decision to prompt corrective action in the case.