Delhi court to pronounce judgement on Muzaffarpur shelter home case tomorrow

A Delhi court is set to pronounce its judgement on Thursday in an alleged case of sexual and physical assault on several girls at a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district.

Additional Session Judge Saurabh Kulshrestha had on September 30 kept the order reserved hearing arguments from both the sides.

The pronouncement of judgement was earlier scheduled for November 14 but was deferred to December 12 due to the lawyers' strike over the Tis Hazari lawyers-police clash.

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

Earlier, the court had framed various charges including criminal conspiracy to commit rape and sexual assault against the accused.

The gruesome incident came to light after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) filed an affidavit detailing horrifying sexual abuse cases at the shelter homes in 2017.

In December last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a charge sheet against 21 accused in the case.

The Supreme Court had earlier transferred the case from Bihar to a Delhi court and ordered the judge to complete it within six months. The trial court then framed charges against 21 accused in the case.