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A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Justice NV Ramana and consisting of Justice Krishna Murari today asked Bihar government to file a report on the action that it has taken against the government officers who were involved in/ignored the child abuse in shelter homes.

When the matter came up for hearing Shoeb Alam, Advocate, submitted that CBI probe has been ordered just in one case and cited the example of Patna High Court taking cognisance of a girl being trapped in shelter home against her will.
Madhavi Divan, ASG, appearing for the CBI, submitted that the CBI has conducted investigation in 16 such shelter homes and in the Muzzafarpur shelter home case alone 19 persons have been convicted.

She further submitted that since the investigation is complete and some officers were repatriated to the parent cadre and that the CBI is seeking for disbanding of the team owing to this. At this point Alam submitted that his main prayer was to ask the court to direct the government the action it had taken against the erring officers in this case.

The counsel appearing for state of Bihar submitted that actions have been taken and an action taken report can be filed before the Supreme Court in two weeks time.

Aparna Bhat, Advocate, who was appointed as amicus curiae submitted that some CBI officers who have been assisting the court in these matters may continue doing so as they know the details of the case better.

The court on hearing the parties noted that since it appears to the court that the probe is now complete the officers who were assembled from various cadres to investigate the matter may now be transferred to their parent cadre. The court directed State of Bihar file the action taken report in two weeks. The court further noted that it is open for the CBI officials to take the assistance of lawyers who appeared in trial court in the appeal against conviction.

Case title: Nivedita Jha Vs State of Bihar