7th missing Muzzafarpur shelter home girl found, says police

After finding six missing girls, the police successfully also found the seventh girl, who is one of the prime witnesses in the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case from Madhubani on Tuesday night.

"After sincere efforts by the SIT constituted to investigate the Mokama Shelter Home case, the seventh girl was recovered last night (26-27/2/19) from Madhubani," said police in its press statement.

"It is to be noted that circumstances of the girl's escape are yet to be fully established. It is early to say if girls escaped on their own or received outside help," the police added.

"No evidence about the involvement of the NGO Nazareth Academy has surfaced so far. The SIT will soon complete the investigation and come out with all details," it further stated.

Six of the minor girls were found in Gangauli village under the Sakatpur police station area on February 24.

Seven girls, including five, who were abused at the Muzaffarpur shelter home last year, escaped from the Mokama shelter home on Friday night.

It is worth mentioning that five girls were shifted to Nazareth Hospital Society from Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, Muzaffarpur, in August last year after their ordeal of sexual abuse was highlighted in the audit report of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

More than 40 minor girls were allegedly sexually assaulted over a period of time in the shelter home which was run by Brijesh Thakur's state-funded non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Subsequently, the NGO was blacklisted and the girls were shifted to other shelter homes in Patna and Madhubani.