The Supreme Court on Monday granted three months time to the CBI to complete its probe into the rape, sexual abuse and possible murder of children in a shelter home in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar.
A Vacation Bench of Justices Indu Malhotra and M.R. Shah asked the CBI to expand its probe into whether outsiders, other than the shelter home authorities, were involved in the alleged crimes against children. It also asked the probe agency to initiate investigation under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code into allegations of unnatural sex. The Bench said the CBI should recover any video or photographic evidence of abuse against the minor inmates and girls in the home.
The CBI filed a status report in the court and informed the Bench that its teams had excavated two bodies and was awaiting forensic reports on them. It sought six months time to finish the probe, but the court gave them three months. Initially, on May 6, the court urged CBI to “complete its probe” into revelations that 11 girls were murdered by kingpin Brajesh Thakur, who ran the home.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had termed the case an “extremely urgent matter” and asked the CBI to take “all necessary action in accordance with the law.”
The CBI had got wind of the alleged murders from the rescued children. The names of these girls, who had mysteriously disappeared from the ‘balikagarh’ (girls' home), emerged in the multiple statements of the children. They had said the girls were murdered by Thakur and his accomplices.
Till recently, the CBI had been firefighting criticism over the delay in slapping murder charges against the accused persons.
A writ petition filed by Nivedita Jha in the court accused the CBI of avoiding crucial leads to shield the perpetrators. It also accused the CBI of diluting the case.
