‘Girls appeared scared, had suggested that shelter home be vacated': Bihar Child Rights commission

Patna, Aug 3: The Bihar shelter home rape case is getting murkier with the head of Bihar state commission for protection of child rights, Harpal Kaur, saying that she had recommended that the shelter be vacated as the girls were kept in very poor conditions.

The girls alleged that not just visitors but Brajesh Thakur, owner of the shelter home, also used to sexually abuse the girls.

Harpal Kaur, the head of Bihar state commission for protection of child rights, said that they had sent reminders as well but nothing happened. Recalling her visit to the shelter home, Kaur said that she hadn't felt right about it.

"51 girls were staying in a small premises with no education or health facilities. The girls appeared scared. We had submitted a report to social welfare Department suggesting that the shelter home should be vacated," Kaur told news agency ANI.

"I visited shelter home in 2017, saw girls were kept locked inside a room. When I questioned why the girls were kept locked, I was told the girls run away so they have to be kept locked," she added.

At the home in Muzaffarpur, girls - one as young as seven - were drugged, raped, forced to sleep naked and scalded with boiling water by its politically connected owner and its staff, a police charge-sheet revealed. Ten people, including owner Brajesh Thakur, have been charged in the document that detailed a network of police, politicians, administration and criminals exploiting and torturing the girls.

Under opposition attack on a government-run shelter home in Bihar where over 30 girls were raped and tortured, Nitish Kumar today broke his silence and described the case as "shameful", promising strict, uncompromising action.