The prime accused in the case of 11 women going missing from Swadhar Griha, a short-stay home run by SSEVS NGO by Brajesh Thakur, has been acquitted by a special court in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. It also ran Balika Griha which, in 2019, investigations showed that 34 out of 42 women in the shelter were sexually abused.
On Thursday, Special Judge Ajay Kumar Mall discharged Thakur and two associates, Sahista Praveen alias Madhu and Krishna Kumar, on the grounds that the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence to warrant charges against the accused. The prosecution called seven witnesses and four investigating officers but did not get adequate substantial evidence to substantiate the allegations claimed by Special Public Prosecutor Jai Mangal Prasad.
All the three accused—their bodies handcuffed—were shifted under heavy security from Tihar Jail in Delhi to the Muzaffarpur court for the hearing. They will continue to be in jail even after the acquittal in the Swadhar Griha case Because Thakur and his associates were convicted to life imprisonment in the Balika Griha sexual abuse scandal.
It was when an audit found by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) noted ‘grave instances’ of sexual violence at Balika Griha. Women prisoners made some of the worst-ever accounts of physical abuse, locking, drugging, and raping. Some of the men involved were Thakur and certain members of the government who were entitled to supervise inmates’ well-being.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had stepped into Balika Griha in July 2019 to take over the investigations. By then, Bihar Police had apprehended 10 of the 11 accused – Thakur and seven women employees of the shelter home. It was also found that Thakur’s NGO was given ₹ 40 lakh annually from BIhar’s social welfare department to run Balika Griha.
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