New Delhi, March 23: The Supreme Court on Wednesday told the Bihar government to submit an Action Taken Report (ATR) in connection with the cases of abuse at the Muzaffarpur shelter home. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana sought to know the action taken against the guilty public officials as well as status of trials in 16 pending cases.
Appearing for the Bihar government, lawyer Manish Kumar told the Supreme Court that the action has been taken against erring officials as per the recommendations of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Supreme Court, however, asked the Bihar government to file before it the ATR and fixed the matter for further hearing after two weeks. During the hearing, advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for petitioner Nivedita Jha, submitted that the problem with regard to shelter homes was endemic.
He pointed out that investigation was carried out in 16 shelters but the conviction was done only with regard to one of them. Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, appearing for the CBI, appraised the Supreme Court that there were 17 cases and conviction had taken place in the main case. The Muzzafarpur incident had come to light in 2018 after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences filed an affidavit detailing the horrifying sexual abuse at the shelter homes there. UNI
