A charge-sheet has been filed by the CBI against the 10 arrested accused.
Highlights
- The girls alleged that they were given tablets that made them sleepy
- When they woke up, they felt pain in the lower abdomen
- They were made to wear skimpy clothes and dance in front of outsiders
The girls at a state-run shelter in Bihar's Muzaffarpur - where a sexual exploitation racket was detected earlier this month were sedated, raped, beaten up and threatened -- the cycle repeated night after night, the survivors have revealed. The girls - all below the age of 18 - alleged that they were given "keede maarne ki dawa" (drugs) which made them unconscious. They always woke up naked and in pain, they said.
All the girls, whose medical reports have confirmed rape, have named Muzaffarpur Child Protection Officer Ravi Kumar Roshan and Brajesh Thakur in their statements before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate. Brajesh Thakur, who ran the NGO, and Mr Roshan have both been arrested.
The non-profit running the shelter has been blacklisted and the girls have been shifted to nearby shelters. Latest medical reports say 34 of the 42 girls living at the shelter have been sexually assaulted.
The girls alleged that Ravi Kumar Roshan regularly came to the shelter. Not just drugs, the girls were plied with alcohol, gagged or beaten into submission.
"Chanda aunty took me to him. She gave me a tablet and I fell unconscious. When I woke up, I was naked. Roshan raped me and warned me against telling anybody about it," said one survivor. A mentally ill girl also was underwent sexual assault at the facility, said another girl who witnessed it. Another survivor said he kicked and beat her.
Asked about the sexual assault, a girl with speech disorder pointed towards Ravi Kumar Roshan's photograph.
One survivor said he had slashed her with a knife when she resisted. "Roshan threatened to kill me. He said that whenever I will look at the mark, I will remember him," she said.
In their statements, the girls said they were made to wear skimpy clothes and dance in front of Ravi Kumar Roshan and outsiders. "Roshan and the men would consume alcohol and touch us inappropriately. If we refused, Roshan would beat us," a girl said.
Ravi Kumar Roshan's wife Shibha Kumari alleged that her husband was falsely implicated to shield the husband of a state minister who came to the facility. Social welfare minister Manju Verma has dismissed the allegation as politically motivated. None of the girls, she said, have corroborated it in their statements.
The horrific sexual exploitation were revealed after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, based on conversations with several girls, came out with a report. It was followed by several arrests.
The case was highlighted this week in a tweet by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who has been taking on the state administration for its "failure" to check crime. Medical examination of the girls, which confirmed rape, led to nationwide outrage.
Mr Yadav, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, alleged that the scandal involved many "well-connected people" whom the government was trying to shield.
After pressure from the opposition, Nitish Kumar government on Thursday handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation. A chargesheet has been filed against the 10 arrested people.