SUPREME COURT GIVES 6-MONTH DEADLINE FOR TRIAL OF MUZAFFARPUR SHELTER HOME ABUSE CASE, TRANSFER IT TO DELHI

The Supreme Court, having the apex power in the hierarchy of the Indian judiciary, has slammed the Bihar government for not providing complete information about the updated status of shelter homes in the state. With the latest order to shift the trial of the case to Saket court in Delhi with a deadline of six months without extension of time.
The Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi questioned the state “Enough is enough, give us details of 110 shelter homes in the state. How many inmates are there? How the state giving assistance and what is the number of male and female inmates”
The bench also stated that the Bihar chief secretary will be summoned if the lawyers representing the state can’t answer the court’s questions.
With the ongoing probe into sexual assault with the minor girls at the Muzaffarpur shelter home, there have been two fresh FIR’s registered by the CBI last month, on the alleged abuse of children in two shelter homes in Gaya and Bhagalpur.
The CBI was directed by the Supreme Court to probe alleged abuse of inmates at 17 shelter homes listed in the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) study, as according to the FIR, the TISS deals with 17 shelter homes in the state of Bihar put under the category of ‘Grave Concerns’, where the director and other officials ran the shelter home in violation of the provision of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
The country has the problem, and people know about the law, but the problem is whether people are law-abiding and follow the system or let be part of the criminal world. The real problem is the enforcement and not about the lawmaking, as there are laws made for these heinous crimes, but the enforcement and the adjudication process is so slow affecting the nation to tragedy. Even after the rape incident happened in 2012, the process hasn’t changed with the investigation and probes taking unnecessary time and the judicial process are long and inefficient creating the barriers for the achievement of justice. And the end, I just want to conclude by saying “justice delayed is justice denied”.
By
Priyam Kamra
Student reporter, INBA