Court seeks CBI response in Muzaffarpur shelter home case

In a major breakthrough in Muzaffarpur shelter home case, the Delhi HC had sought a response from CBI after one of the convicts challenged the trial court's judgement. The next hearing will take place on October 1.

New Delhi:The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought a response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a petition, moved by one of the convicts in Bihar's Muzaffarpur shelter home case, challenging the trial court judgment. A bench led by Justice Vipin Sanghi has scheduled the next hearing of the case on October 1.

Convict Vikas Kumar has challenged the trial court's order of sentencing him with life imprisonment for the remainder of his life. Along with the Vikas Kumar, hearing of Brajesh Kumar's plea will also be pronounced who was convicted by the Delhi HC for sexually assaulting several girls.

Hearing his plea, a Division Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar on Thursday issued a notice to the CBI and slated the matter for October 1 when it would also hear appeals by the other convicts of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual assault case.

Earlier, Brajesh Thakur - whom the trial court had termed 'kingpin' of a 'meticulously planned' conspiracy -- and Dilip Kumar Verma, both sentenced to life imprisonment till the remainder of their lives, had challenged the lower court's judgment in the HC. Both Brajesh and Vikas had contested assembly elections in Bihar.

The CBI had earlier stated that Brajesh Thakur had sexually, mentally and physically assaulted minor girls and violated government norms in the name of 'NGO'.

READ: Decision in Muzaffarpur shelter home case reserved, judgement on November 14

The trial court had convicted 19 people, including Kumar, Thakur, and Verma, on January 20 in the case and sentenced them on February 11. Thakur was convicted of several offences, including aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, besides rape and gang rape under the Indian Penal code. The trial court had also imposed a hefty fine of Rs 32.20 lakh on him.

In their appeals, Thakur and Verma had contended that the trial court had conducted the hearing in a "hurried manner", thus violating their right to a free and fair trial as guaranteed under the Constitution of India.

Apart from Thakur, Verma, and Kumar, the trial court had also sentenced then child protection officer of Muzaffarpur, Ravi Roshan, besides convicts Guddu Vijay, Kumar Tiwari, Guddu Patel, Kishan Kumar, and Ramanuj Thakur to imprisonment for the remainder of their lives in the case.

The Muzaffarpur shelter home case was transferred to Delhi High Court on the recommendation of Supreme Court in February 2019. The apex court had directed that the hearing of the matter should be completed within six months.

With ANI inputs