Muzaffarpur shelter home case: bail pleas of two accused rejected

A court here Monday rejected the bail pleas of two suspended officials of the Bihar Social Welfare department who are currently facing trial in the shelter home sex scandal case.

Special POCSO judge R P Tiwari dismissed the bail applications of Ravi Raushan and Rosy Rani both of whom had formerly been posted here as assistant directors of the district child protection unit.

Raushan was arrested in July by the Muzaffarpur Police which was then investigating the scandal that involved the now-sealed shelter home situated in the Sahu Road locality. Rani was held in September by the CBI, which took over the probe in the high-profile scandal.

More than a dozen people arrested in connection with the case, including prime accused Brajesh Thakur, who is lodged in a Patiala jail, deposed before the court through video conferencing.

Rani and Raushan are lodged at the Beur Central Jail in Patna. Others are at Muzaffarpur jail.

Thakur, who headed the NGO which ran the shelter home for minor girls, was sent to the Punjab district following a direction by the Supreme Court.

Recently, the district administration had also issued an order to demolish the building which housed the shelter home since it was found that the structure was constructed illegally.

The Muzaffarpur scandal had come to light after a report of a social audit conducted by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences flagged social abuse of many of the inmates at the shelter home.