CPI(ML) Bihar State Secretary Kunal stated that the Supreme Court decision to hand over the enquiry into the 17 other shelter homes (just as the Muzaffarpur shelter home enquiry has already been handed over to the CBI) which had been cited in the TISS report as being in grave condition is a welcome step. He said that from the beginning the CPI(ML) had always demanded a CBI enquiry into all the shelter homes, including the Muzaffarpur home, shown by the TISS report as being in very serious condition.
Comrade Kunal said that the Supreme Court was constantly dissatisfied with the police enquiry into the matter of sexual harassment in the shelter homes, and yet the enquiry was not speeded up. Clearly, the intent of the Bihar government was to hush up the matter. The police department is under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar; therefore, Nitish Kumar is directly answerable and accountable for this.
Kunal further said that such a situation is not possible without high level political protection; therefore the government is deliberately adopting an attitude of neglect and indifference in this matter which is beyond limits. We therefore demand that this political protection should also be brought within the ambit of the enquiry. The gravity of the political protection can be understood by the fact that the director of one of these child shelter homes (listed in the TISS report) still continues to be felicitated and honoured by various political parties and institutions.
