Sexual abuse of minors: Nitish Kumar’s resignation sought

New Delhi, July 31: Civil society organisations on Monday held a protest demanding the resignation of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls in a shelter home at Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

They staged a protest outside Bihar Bhawan in Chanakyapuri here and also sought a fair probe into the incident.

Slamming the state government, the protesters indulged in sloganeering against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bihar Chief Minister.

Seeking speedy justice for the survivors, protesters demanded a comprehensive and time-bound high level enquiry with monitoring by the apex court.

Blaming the Nitish-government for failing to maintain law and order in his state, National Federation for Indian Women General Secretary, Annie Raja, said crores of rupees have been spent on the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Andolan, but Nitish kumar has "failed" in his own state.

"Bihar Chief Minister has failed to protect and save girls in his state. He does not have any right to remain the Chief Minister. He must resign immediately", she said.

Demanding a comprehensive enquiry, Raja said the High Court must monitor the CBI enquiry.

Former Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar demanded a fair probe in the matter.

"Why were separate FIRs based on the statements of each of the victims not registered when the dates of occurrence of the incidents were different? It's an attempt to cover up the matter. CBI must rectify it and Supreme Court sitting Chief Justice should monitor the case", said Ali Anwar.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha questioned Modi over his "silence" on the incident.

Former President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union Kanhaiya Kumar also joined the protest.

"Those involved in the case must be immediately removed from their post. Only a fair probe can grant justice to the victims and strict action must be taken against the accused", he said.

The CBI has taken over the probe into the Muzaffarpur case.

The case relates to mental, physical and sexual exploitation of the girls residing at Balika Grih, Muzaffarpur.

The matter had come to light earlier this year when the Bihar Social Welfare Department filed an FIR based on a social audit of the shelter home conducted by a Mumbai-based institute.

The audit report stated that many girls at the shelter home had complained of sexual abuse. A special investigation team was formed to probe the complaints.

The NGO running the shelter home in Muzaffarpur was blacklisted and the girls were shifted to shelter homes in Patna and Madhubani.

Women staff members of the shelter home and Brajesh Thakur, who ran the NGO, were among those arrested by the local police in connection with the case.