PATNA: The seventh missing minor girl, who is a victim and prime witness in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuses, has been recovered from Madhubani district, said police on Wednesday.
The girl, aged about 17, was found sitting alone, covered with a shawl, at a teashop outside Jaynagar railway station in Madhubani. She was identified by a photograph of hers that was sent to five police teams looking for her since Saturday, said sources.
This girl was one of seven girls, including four victims and witnesses of the Muzaffarpur scandal, who had gone missing from a short-stay home run by Nazareth Society at Mokama in the early hours on Saturday. Six of the girls were recovered in Darbhanga late on Saturday evening and brought back to Patna.
“Police teams were dispatched to several places, including West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, to trace her. Three young men who were in touch with her have been detained. They are being interrogated,” said Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey.
Sources said this girl is the most important witness in the horrific sexual abuses at the government-funded shelter home in Muzaffarpur that surfaced in May last. The case is currently being probed by CBI.
“She had told investigating officials about how several influential people, including politicians and government officials, were facilitating the sexual exploitation of the minor girls in collusion with Brajesh Thakur, whose NGO ran the shelter home,” said a police official.
With a probe by police and a forensic team having confirmed that the seven girls had received help in escaping from the short-stay home at Mokama, efforts are now on to identify people who masterminded their escape and the motive behind it.
“There seems to be a conspiracy going on to weaken the Muzaffarpur case in order to protect the influential people behind it. The government must make foolproof arrangement of the safe custody of all the minor girls who are both victims and witnesses of the abuses,” said Bhai Birendra, a senior leader of the Opposition RJD.