Delhi court reserves order on sentencing in Muzaffarpur shelter home case

A Delhi court on Tuesday reserved its order on quantum of sentence for the 19 convicts in connection with the sexual assault of over 40 girls at a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district.

Additional Session Judge Saurabh Kulshrestha reserved the order after hearing arguments from both the sides and will pronounce his order at 2:30 pm on February 11.

Public prosecutor Amit Jindal, appearing on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), sought life imprisonment for convict Brajesh Thakur, who is a former MLA and owner of the NGO called Sewa Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, which managed the place where the incident took place.

On the other hand, counsel for the convicts has sought minimum punishment for the convicts by citing the financial condition of the remaining convicts.

The court had, on January 20, convicted Brajesh Thakur along with 18 others in the matter.

The Supreme Court had transferred the case from Bihar to a Delhi court and ordered the judge to complete it within six months, following which the trial court framed charges against 20 accused in the case.

The incident had come to light in the year 2018 after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) filed an affidavit detailing horrifying sexual abuse cases at the shelter homes.