The Supreme Court requested status updates regarding the welfare of girls who were rescued from a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, where allegations of widespread sexual assault first surfaced in 2018, from the relevant authorities in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, Uttarakhand, and Punjab on Tuesday.
“We direct respective child welfare committees to send appropriate status reports detailing steps taken and present status of girls, including whether such girls are being imparted education or any vocational training and how best their well-being has been taken care of. Some compensation was extended to each one and the state would do well to give status with regard to expenditure of such amount,” ordered the bench, which also included justice Bela M Trivedi.
The states were given six weeks to finish the task at hand and deliver their reports to the judges.
In order for the court to make its verdict, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which had socially audited the NGO-run shelter house in Muzaffarpur and found instances of sexual assault, produced a declaration.
TISS reports that 12 of the 44 girls that were saved were either physically or emotionally unfit to be reunited with their families. However, there has been no status update from the United States, thus it is uncertain how those who were reunited with their families are faring.
The criminal case was moved from Bihar to Delhi by the supreme court in February 2019, along with a directive for the CBI to expedite its investigation.
A Delhi court gave the primary defendant, Brajesh Thakur, a life sentence in jail in January 2020, declaring that he was the “kingpin” of a “meticulously planned” scheme and “displayed extreme perversity.” Before the Delhi High Court, where his appeal is still pending, Thakur contesteThe apex court had in February 2019 transferred the criminal case from Bihar to Delhi while directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to speed up the investigation. After taking this counsel into consideration, the bench asked the states to furnish the most recent status updates on the females.