Muzaffarpur shelter horror: Row over JD-U leader picture

Patna: A week after social welfare minister Manju Verma resigned over Muzaffarpur shelter home issue another senior JD(U) leader Shyam Rajak’s closeness with one of the accused in Patna shelter home case has kicked up a political storm in Bihar.

Rajak’s photograph with Manisha Dayal, the secretary of the shelter home, was found circulating on social media platforms on Monday. Dayal and her associate Chitranjan Kumar was arrested on Sunday for neglecting medical treatment of two inmates who had died on Saturday in Patna.

Although Rajak has denied his links with Dayal and her shelter home, Opposition parties claimed that several ruling party leaders have been involved in saving people associated with shelter home incidents.

HAM spokesperson Danish Rizwan claimed that evidence against leaders associated with the ruling alliance is emerging every day, but chief minister Nitish Kumar is not taking any action against them. “Verma resigned because of political pressure. Nitish Kumar should also take responsibility of shelter home incidents,” Mr Rizwan said.

Rajak, while refuting allegations against him, said that the photograph in question was taken during a cricket tournament, which he had attended as a guest. “I have no clue about the shelter home she was running. Being a political leader I was invited to attend a cricket match, during which the photograph was taken,” he said. HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav have been demanding Mr Kumar’s resignation over the Muzaffarpur issue on “moral grounds”.  The Opposition party leaders had earlier also hinted at using the shelter home incident as an agenda against Mr Kumar and his government during the 2019 general elections.

Two shelter home inm-ates Poonam Bharti (16) and Babli (40) had died on Saturday under mysterious circumstances but their deaths were made public on Sunday after police got the information.

The shelter home auth-orities during questioning had informed the police that the two inmates were taken to hospital following complaints of diarrhoea and fever. A medical board has also been constituted to find the cause of death, the police said.

“We have been informed by the shelter home that inmates died during treatment at the hospital but the hospital authorities claim that they were brought dead. We got the information about their death only on Sunday,” a police officer said.

A survey carried out by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which uncovered the Muzaffarpur shelter home incident, had also exposed the vulnerability of residents at 15 other shelter homes in Bihar.

The CBI is currently probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home case where 34 inmates were subjected to extreme brutality and raped by officials and employees of the facility.