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Main accused Brajesh Thakur, 18 others convicted

New Delhi: Brajesh Thakur, who ran the shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur where girls were raped and physically assaulted over a period of several months, was found guilty on Monday by a Delhi court.

Thakur was convicted for aggravated sexual assault under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. In addition, 19 of 20 accused — eight women and 12 men — including the former Bihar People's Party MLA, were found guilty on a number of other charges, including criminal conspiracy to commit rape and penetrative sexual assault against minors.

All 19 convicts will be sentenced on January 28 at 10 am. The offences entail a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

After the conviction of the shelter home kingpin, the entire episode has put the governance of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar under the scanner as Thakur enjoyed the patronage of politicians and bureaucrats for the act.

It's pertinent to mention here that it was Harpreet Kaur, the then SSP of Muzaffarpur, who cracked a whip against Thakur and arrested him on June 3, 2018 — soon after the matter came to light on May 26 after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report to the Bihar government highlighting the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls in the shelter home for the first time.

In a case that shocked the nation, young girls were forced to dance to vulgar songs, sedated and raped at the government-run shelter in a scandal that exposed the role of politicians and bureaucrats.

The fallout of the case included the resignation of Manju Verma, a member of th e ruling Janata Dal United in the state and then the Social Welfare Minister, after it emerged that Thakur had links with her husband.

On Saturday, the court dismissed a plea filed by Thakur asking for witness testimonies to be dismissed on grounds of unreliability.

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