In Bihar, 42 girls 'raped', cops dig for 'buried' body
Patna : Following the court orders, the Bihar Police on Monday dug up the premises of a Muzaffarpur shelter home operated by an NGO in search of the body of a convict who was allegedly murdered after sexual assault. However, the excavation work ended and no dead body could be found.
The sensitive matter came to limelight after a social audit report of Tata Institute of Social Sciences reported that 42 girl inmates of the Muzaffarpur Balika Grih had allegedly been sexually assaulted. The inmates were supposedly beaten up or drugged before being sexually harmed.
One of the victims blamed that those who resisted rape were killed. A girl was physically abused and killed. Later, her body was buried on the stay home premises, she had alleged. The court ordered excavation to exhume her body in presence of magistrate Sheela Kumari.
“On court’s permission, the excavation was carried out at the stay home run by NGO Seva Sankalp and Vikas Samiti on Monday with the help of sniffer dogs but nothing was found. Further probe is on to ascertain the veracity of the allegations,” said Muzaffarpur SSP Harpreet Kaur.
“One of the inmates had alleged that staff members often assaulted girl inmates and one of them had died in the process. We dug up the spot on the premises to verify her claims,” she said.
A special investigation team (SIT) was formed to probe the case. “The police have arrested 10 persons in connection with the Muzaffarpur stay home incident, while raids are on to nab other accused,” said the SSP.
The girl patients were shifted from Muzaffarpur to other homes, while medical tests were carried out to determine rape. At least 16 of the 21 medical reports submitted to the officials concerned had confirmed rape, while other reports are yet to come,” said sources. They also added that some other girls had disappeared in the past and the matter was under investigation.
At least 30 disturbed rape survivors were under medical observation at various hospitals. Madhepura MP Papu Yadav had demanded a CBI probe into the incident.
