The Supreme Court on Monday rubbished claims that Brajesh Thakur, prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case, was physically or mentally tortured in Patiala jail. Brijesh Thakur’s sons’ had alleged that their father was being tortured in the Jail.
The court had ordered Thakur’s medical examination after his sons wrote a letter to the court, levelling the charges.
A bench of justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta rejected the charges made by Thakur’s sons and told senior advocate Vikas Singh representing the accused that there was “absolutely nothing” in the medical examination report to suggest that Brajesh Thakur was physically or mentally tortured.
Thakur was moved from Bihar’s Bhagalpur jail to Patiala high-security jail in Punjab following the Supreme court order on October 30, which the court issued after it was told that the accused was found violating jail rules.
The court had earlier said that Thakur was an influential person and was found with a mobile phone and multiple sim cards inside the jail, as per the Central Bureau of Investigation.
It was feared that Thakur’s presence in Bihar could stifle a free and fair probe in the case.
In August, Brajesh Thakur was caught by the jail officials with a list of 40 mobile phone numbers and names of those whom they were issued against. The list, according to district administration officials, had names of some powerful people including a minister.
Its worthy to note here that Thakur had earlier established his closeness with the Congress party by disclosing that he was set to contest elections from the Muzaffarpur constituency as a Congress candidate, and hence he is being ‘targeted’.
Alongside rubbishing the claims of torture, the court also refused to issue an order clarifying that a local tribunal in Muzaffarpur can hear Thakur’s appeal against the demolition notice issued to him by the local civic agency, warning him to pull down the building where the shelter home existed.
Singh said the tribunal there was not taking up the case on the ground that the notice was in accordance with the SC order directing the civic agency to take action against the allegedly illegal building.
An FIR was lodged on May 31 against 11 people, including Thakur, who was running the shelter home after a survey by Tata Institute of Social Sciences highlighted the abuse of over 30 girls living there. The report was submitted to Bihar’s social welfare department. The probe was later taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation and so far 17 people have been arrested.
