NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday witnessed high drama after pronouncement of judgment in the case of physical and sexual assault of several girls in a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, when one of the convicts threatened to commit suicide inside jail.
Just as Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshrestha convicted key accused and local politician Brajesh Thakur and 18 others in the case, convict Ravi Roshan, the former child protection officer Muzaffarpur, broke down inside the courtroom.
"I have not done any of the crimes told by you. I have not committed such shameful acts on the girls. You are sending me to jail for these acts. I will commit suicide inside the jail," he told the judge.
The judge asked his counsel to console him.
"Where is his counsel? I request the investigating officer and the jail authorities to please take him out," the judge said, adding, "You can approach the higher court against this judgment. It is your right."
He was held guilty by the court for the offenses of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, criminal conspiracy, rape, gang rape, causing hurt, abetment to rape under the Indian Penal Code, and section 75 (cruelty to children) of the Juvenile Justice Act.
Just when Ravi Roshan threatened to end his life, some of the female convicts also started crying, to which the judge sternly directed the investigating officer and the jail authorities to take them out of the courtroom.
"Please take them out. I don't want all the convicts to now start crying one by one," said the judge. All the 19 accused were taken out of the courtroom.
Their counsel told them they will challenge the verdict in the higher court.
The case was transferred in February 2019, from a local court in Muzaffarpur to a POCSO court at Saket district court complex in Delhi on the apex court's directions.
The matter had come to light on May 26, 2018, after Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted a report to the Bihar government highlighting the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls in the shelter home for the first time.
The report had been submitted to the Bihar Social Welfare Department by TISS in February that year.