Breaking: Delhi Court convicts Brajesh Thakur in the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case

A Delhi Court today convicted Brajesh Thakur in Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case. The Additional Sessions Court held that Thakur was guilty of rape, gang rape and aggravated penetrative sexual assault.Apart from Thakur, 18 others were also convicted by the Court and one accused was acquitted by the Court..The eighteen persons who were convicted by the Court were Shaista Parveen, Rozy Rani, Dilip Verma, Vikash Yadav, Indu Kumari, Meena Devi, Manju Devi, Chanda Devi, Neha Kumari, Hema, Kiran Kumari, Vijay Kumar Tiwari, Guddu Patel, Kishan Ram, Dr Ashwini, Ramanuj Thakur and Rama Shankar. While Ashwini and Rama Shankar have been convicted for the offences of abetment and criminal conspiracy, the other seven male convicts have been convicted for rape. Except for Rozy Rani who has been convicted for commission of offence under Section 21(1) JJ Act, other eight females have been convicted for criminal conspiracy and abetment. .The order was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge Dr Saurabh Kulshreshtha..The case pertains to the rape and sexual abuse of inmates of a shelter home in Muzaffarpur. The NGO, Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, which ran the shelter home was owned by Thakur..The incident was brought to the notice of the Bihar police in May last year after a social audit conducted by a team from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) unearthed mass sexual exploitation among minor inmates of stay homes and shelters in Bihar..Among them, close to 30 minor girls in a Muzaffarpur shelter home were reported having suffered sexual abuse. .Subsequently, an FIR was registered based on the TISS report in May 2018. Investigation was subsequently taken over by CBI at the request of the State..Chargesheet in the matter was filed in December 2018 and Thakur faced trial for commission of offences under Sections 341,342,323,326,354A,354B,376D,120B,109,504,506,34 of IPC, Sections 4,6,8,10,12 of POCSO Act and Section 75,85 of the Juvenile Justice Amended Act, 2006..In August, last year, a Division Bench of Justices Madan Lokur (now retired) and Deepak Gupta had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter, after receiving a letter highlighting the case..While transferring the case to a POCSO Court to Saket Court Complex, New Delhi in early 2019, the Supreme Court had directed for the trial to commence within two weeks. The Supreme Court had added that the trial must be concluded within six months from the date of commencement..A detailed copy of the judgement is awaited.