Probe report of Gaighat shelter home case in 4 weeks: Bihar govt to HC

The Bihar government on Thursday told the Patna High Court that the investigation related to the alleged scandal at the Gaighat shelter home in the state capital will be completed in next four weeks.

Advocate General Lalit Kishore made the assurance before a bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S. Kumar.

The Gaighat shelter home case came to light in January 30 when a girl inmate of Ghazipur, who was released from the shelter home, claimed immoral activities are taking place there at a large scale and its Superintendent Vandana Gupta is directly involved in it.

The girl inmate alleged that more than 250 to 300 girl inmates were raped or gang raped in an unconscious stage, after they were forcibly drugged or given injections to make them unconscious. She accused Gupta of direct involvement saying she used to invite youths inside the shelter home to sexually exploit female inmates in unconscious stage.

Despite the serious charges, the Social Welfare Ministry had given clean chit to Gupta and declared that the victim a mentally unstable person.

"The district administration of Patna also had a negligent attitude in this matter. The District Magistrate, SSP and other senior officers tried every possible way to suppress the voice of the victim. The Social Welfare Ministry has issued a letter in the matter and given a clean chit to the alleged superintendent without any investigation," said Veena Manavi, convener of a Patna-based NGO Mahila Vikas Manch.

Patna police did not register an FIR on the application given by the victim till February 9, and that too after the pressure of media and the Patna High Court taking cognisance, she added.

Following the sensational allegation, Patna High Court had taken the cognisance of the matter and directed the Bihar government to submit the investigation report before it.

The Home Department had constituted a special investigation team headed by ASP Kamya Mishra to probe the incident.