Kumar should sack minister for shelter home scandal : Anwar

NCP national general secretary and MP Tariq Anwar today demanded that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sack his social welfare minister for the failure to prevent sexual exploitation at the state-funded shelter home at Muzaffarpur.

He also demanded the arrest of the minister's husband and tried for his involvement in the scandal.

The NCP leader said that both the state government and the chief minister are responsible for the shameful incident that had been going on for years.

"Nitish Kumar should immediately sack social welfare minister Manju Verma for her department's failure to prevent sexual exploitation at the government funded shelter home for girls at Muzaffarpur,"Anwar told newsmen here.

"The minister's husband Chadrashekhar Verma should be be arrested and tried for his involvement in the case," Anwar told reporters here.

It has been alleged that the minister's husband used to visit the shelter home. Chandrashekahr Verma had, however, claimed that he had accompanied his wife to the shelter home only once.

Anwar, a Lok Sabha member from Katihar, said the incident has brought disrepute to the Bihar government which has failed to protect the girls at the shelter home.

"It was instead much more interested in patronising misdeeds of the culprits," he alleged.

The incident of sexual exploitation of minor inmates at the Muzaffarpur shelter home was first highlighted in a social audit report submitted by Tata Institute of Social Science of Mumbai to the state's social welfare department in April, Anwar said.

It was "quite surprising" that no officials did their job honestly and such an incident continued unabated for many years with "the connivance of officials and other important persons sitting in the government," he remarked.

NCP, he said, would observe "Samvidhan Bachao, Desh Bachao" programme on August 9 to protest against the Centre's functioning.