The Muzaffarpur girls’ shelter home horror and sexual abuse of the inmates prime accused Brajesh Thakur who is behind bars since June 2 has applied for bail and the High Court has asked the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Muzaffarpur to furnish case diary related to the enquiry of the case. Thakur’s lawyer Ajay Thakur pleaded before the Bench of Justice Arun Kumar that no victim has so far directly accused his client.
The Government which is accused of going slow in the Balika Grih, the shelter home run by Thakur’s NGO Seva Sankalp evam Vikas Samiti, despite a damning report by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) which submitted its report in April, swung into action to blacklist this and other NGOs owned by Thakur from Social Welfare and Health departments. These NGOs had been running about 30 such centers in different districts.
Official sources said Thakur and his associates had established 30 NGOs and most of them were recognised by the Government for running projects and were getting funds. The Bihar AIDS Control Society alone was giving Thakur Rs 1.5 crore annually. Health Department sources said payment to all his NGOs were stopped.
Thakur was also running a chain of newspapers published in three languages: Hindi, English and Urdu and all were getting Government advertisement to the tune of Rs 2 crore per annum. Thakur and others were availing accreditation cards in the name of these newspapers which have been derecognised.
The police had arrested Thakur and nine other accused women but another kingpin Dilip Verma is still absconding. Verma was chairman of Children Welfare Committee. A woman Shaista Parween alias Madhu Kumari is also absconding who is believed to be main confident of Thakur. Originally she belonged to Chaturbhuj sthan Muzaffarpur’s red light area. She was supposed to be looking after the affairs of Balika Grih and other homes run by the NGOs.