SC slams Bihar for funding NGOs involved in sexual abuse

New Delhi : Expressing concern over the spurt in rape cases, the Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Bihar government for misusing tax payers' money to fund NGOs like the Muzaffarpur shelter home.

"People are paying taxes. People's money is going into funding these kinds of activities...Money has been given to these NGOs without looking into their credentials," a bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice K.M. Joseph remarked.

"What's to be done? Girls getting raped left, right and centre," the Bench noted citing the 2016 National Crime Research Bureau data available on the Internet. According to the data, 38,947 rapes were reported in 2016.

In Madhya Pradesh, girls are being sold openly for prostitution and the state leads in the number of rapes, followed by Uttar Pradesh, the court added.

Slamming the Bihar government for funding NGOs involved in sexual abuse cases, the top court questioned how the state could provide them funds without knowing their credentials.

As the bench asked the Bihar government since when the state was providing funds to these NGOs, it was told "since 2014."

"For at least 3-4 years, the Bihar government is giving them money without purpose. Doesn't the law require to check?"

The court has taken suo motu cognisance of the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes after a Patna resident wrote to the court. The CBI is probing the case.

The court also imposed a blanket ban on the publication of images of victims of sexual offences even by putting black bars on part of face/blurred form on the electronic, print and social media.

It asked the Bihar government to take action against the wife of one of the accused for disclosing the names of minor rape victims by posting their names on her Facebook page.

The court suggested that proper monitoring of NGO-run shelter homes must be done on a daily basis and CCTVs be installed to prevent recurrence of incidents like the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes.

The apex court was told that the Muzaffarpur-based NGO was not the only one facing allegations of rape and that a social audit report by Tata Institure of Social Sciences had flagged grave concern over 15 such state-funded institutions in Bihar.

Nine of the 15 NGOs have been flagged for sexual abuse, the bench was told.

At this, the bench said: "It's not about this one incident which is horrible. It's happening everyday, you must go down to the grass-roots level."

The Bihar government counsel told the court that of the 15 NGOs, FIRs have been registered against nine, and that all accused have been arrested except one absconding. Some officers were suspended and are facing action, the court was told.

When the Delhi Commission for Women wanted to file an intervention application, the bench slammed it for interfering and said it doesn't want any politics in the matter.

"The DCW has no concern with this (case) and there is absolutely no politics in it," the Supreme Court said.