A special court, which on January 20 held Brajesh Thakur and 18 others guilty of sexually and physically assaulting girl inmates of a Muzaffarpur shelter home in Bihar, is expected to announce the quantum of sentence on February 4.
The court had earlier fixed Tuesday for hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence on January 28. However, the proceedings were adjourned as the judge was on leave.
Brajesh Thakur was convicted for aggravated sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, gang-rape, rape and other related crimes under the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice Act. One of the accused, Vicky, was acquitted.
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The shelter home was run by an NGO named “Sewa Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti”. Among those convicted are its office-bearers and officials of the State government’s Social Welfare department.
The instances of sexual assault of girl inmates were first recorded by a research team of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which came up with a report.
On the Supreme Court’s directive, cases pertaining to allegations of sexual abuse of children in the shelter homes of Bihar, including the one at Muzaffarpur, were transferred to the CBI in 2018.
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A forensics team collected evidence from the shelter home. The agency recorded testimonies of the victims and also made several arrests, including that of Brajesh Thakur. As it turned out, the accused persons would bring in people, who sexually assaulted the girl inmates. They would also be taken to hotels where they were raped.
The court framed charges against the accused persons on March 30 last year, taking cognisance of the final report filed by the CBI. They were tried on various counts, including gang-rape, penetrative sexual assault and harassment, cruelty to child under authority and administering drugs to victims.