The Patna High Court on Thursday pulled up the CBI, which is probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, for its failure to submit its status report. The court asked how information related to the case leaked to the media and why an SP-rank officer, who was part of the probe, was transferred.
The Patna High Court is monitoring the case relating to the sexual abuse of 34 girls at the shelter home. It has fixed August 27 as the next date of hearing.
A division bench of the court, comprising Chief Justice Mukesh R. Shah and Justice Ravi Ranjan, asked the CBI to submit to the court in a sealed envelope the reason for transferring its Superintendent of Police J.P. Mishra. The officer was transferred on Tuesday evening and posted in the office of DIG, Patna range. Devendra Singh, SP, CBI (Anti-Corruption Bureau, Lucknow) has been given additional charge held by Mishra.It asked the media to refrain from publishing details of the investigation as it could affect the probe. The director of the State Social Welfare Department, Raj Kumar, sent a letter to the Information and Public Relations department asking it to ensure that “no information related to the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case and its investigation is published in the media.”
The Muzaffarpur shelter home rape was exposed in a 100-page social audit report of the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS). The State government recommended a CBI probe and later requested the Patna High Court to monitor the case. Out of 11 accused in the case, 10 including Brajesh Thakur whose NGO managed the shelter home, have been sent to jail.
