A Delhi court framed charges on Saturday against the main accused Brajesh Thakur and 20 others in the Muzzafarnagar shelter home sexual assault case in which 34 women were sexually assaulted.
The trials against the 21 people accused of allegedly entering into the shelter homes of women and forcing them sexually, will begin on April 3, A Delhi court announced.
Brajesh Thakur was the owner of the NGO Sewa Sankalp Evam that was responsible for managing the Vikas Samiti shelter home, was charged under the POSCO Act, including Section 6 (aggravated sexual assault). The offense carries the punishment of a minimum of 10 years in jail and a maximum of life imprisonment.
Framing the charges of rape, criminal conspiracy, sexual assault, drugging of minors and criminal intimidation after the accused person pleaded not guilty, Additional Sessions judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha said that the trials will begin with the recording of prosecution evidence and that there was prima facie enough evidence, to begin with, the trials.
Thakur has also been known for enjoying political benefits in a close tie with RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav back when he was the CM of the state.
The first FIR in the case was lodged on May 30, on the recommendation of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) report. It took one and a half more month to complete the investigation.
The CBI has taken over the case and started its investigation in July last year on the state government’s recommendation.
On February 7, the Supreme Court transferred the case from Bihar to a POSCO court in Saket District Court complex in Delhi with a direction to conclude the trial within six months.
Later the case also claimed a political casualty in the form of Bihar Social Welfare Department Minister Manju Verma, who was forced to quit from her post in August last year over allegations that her husband used to frequent the shelter home.
According to the reports, 34 out of the 42 girls, living in a girl’s stay home, were drugged, raped, tortured and beaten regularly. All the rape survivors were minors, ages between 7-14 years old.
The matter was exposed by a team from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, who was conducting a social audit of all the girls and old age stay homes across the state. There was an extreme barbarism and brutality that happened with the girls in the home.