Muzaffarpur Shelter Home: Delhi Court Imposes Life Sentence On Brahesh Thakur and 10 Others

In addition to life imprisonment, the court has also imposed a fine of ₹32 lacs against Thakur.

The court has also awarded life imprisonment to other 10 convicts, including 3 women. Among these 10 convicts, some are sentenced to imprisonment took the remainder of their lives.

Apart from this, sentence running into 7 years of imprisonment has also been imposed on the remaining 6 convicts including 4 women. One woman convict, Rosy Rani, is sentenced to 6 months of imprisonment. However, she was released as she had already served more than six months in jail.

The sentence order has come in pursuance of the judgement pronounced on January 20, wherein the Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha at Saket Court had convicted Brajesh Thakur and 18 other accused persons in the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case.

Brajesh Thakur was convicted for multiple grounds of rape, gangrape (section 376(d), IPC) aggravated sexual assault under section 6 of POCSO Act, criminal conspiracy, and offences under the Juvenile Justice Act.

Certain female accused persons were convicted of criminal conspiracy, abetment of crime, section 12 of the POCSO Act, and offences under the Juvenile Justice Act.

One accused, Vicky, was acquitted of all the charges. Another accused Rosy Rani was also acquitted of all the charges except section 21 of the POCSO Act.

Several girls were raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. The issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

The accused in the present case involved Bihar politician Brajesh Thakur, certain employees of the shelter home and the officials from Bihar Department of Social Welfare.

All the 20 accused persons were charged with criminal conspiracy under section 120B of IPC, rape, and of aggravated sexual assault under section 6 of POCSO Act.

Earlier in February, the Supreme Court had directed for the transferring of the case from Bihar to a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Saket District Court complex.