Supreme Court Lashes Out Bihar Government for Delay in Arrest of Manju Verma

Guwahati: Two senior officials of the Bihar Government was lashed out by the Supreme Court on Monday on account of the former minister, Manju Verma, who was linked with the shelter home sex abuse cases, not yet been traced and arrested.

The Supreme Court while asking the senior officials to explain why the accused Manju Verma was not arrested yet said, "Fantastic... ex-cabinet minister is not traceable... You (Bihar government) will have to explain...How is it that no one knows where the ex-minister is?

The Supreme Court had further ordered the Bihar police chief to be present in court on November 27 and explain, if Manju Verma is not traceable by then.

The top court has also summoned the Chief Secretary and asked him to personally explain "why action was not taken against 14 other shelter homes, against which, cases of torture and sexual abuse of girls, were reported by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences."

Noteworthy, on November 1, a non-bailable warrant was issued against Ms Verma, after the Supreme Court hauled up the Bihar government and on three successive days said - why wasn't she arrested, is the former minister above the law, and is something wrong with the Bihar government.

The warrant, against the former minister, was issued for a case under the Arms Act. In August, the police had raided Ms. Verma in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes and seized 50 live cartridges from one of her houses.

Earlier in August this year, Ms. Verma had resigned as the Social Welfare Minister of Bihar after her husband, Chandrashekhar Verma, came under fire for allegedly visiting the Muzaffarpur shelter home several times. Known to be a close aide of the key accused in the case Brajesh Sharma, Chandrashekhar had later surrendered.

Over 40 young girls were sexually abused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home. The sexual exploitation of the girls was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) to the state's social welfare department in April. The first case was filed on May 31 against 11 people, including Brajesh Thakur.

The state-run shelter home has now been shut after the sensational incident shook the entire nations. The matter was highlighted after Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) conducted an inspection of several shelter homes running in Bihar. In a report to the state government, it was alleged that the rape of inmates was taking place in the state-run home shelters.

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