The Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case, in which 34 young girls were sexually assaulted, shocked the nation in 2018.

Former Bihar MLA Brajesh Thakur and 11 others are serving life sentences for their involvement in these appalling crimes against numerous minor girls.

The crime came to light thanks to a social audit report conducted by a dedicated team of researchers from Koshish — a Field Action Project on homelessness and destitution at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

The then Principal Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare, Atul Prasad, commissioned the team to conduct a social audit of all institutions, as he believed there were lapses in their functioning.

Over a span of six months, beginning in October 2017, a team of seven diligently surveyed more than 110 institutions either operated or supported by the Bihar Government.

The findings were alarming and left the researchers in shock. They uncovered widespread cases of sexual abuse and violence in 17 institutions.

In the report submitted to the Bihar Government in May 2018, one of the 17 institutions marked as a ‘grave concern’ was Balika Grih (girl’s shelter home) run by Brajesh Thakur’s NGO, Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti.

A police probe and medical examination revealed that 34 girls at the home, aged between seven and 17, had been sexually assaulted. The case was subsequently transferred to the CBI, and 20 individuals were charged in connection with the incident.

Mohd Tarique, who led the TISS team, said that they focused on non-verbal signs and assessed situations based on the overall atmosphere. If they found children sitting very quietly in an organised manner with fear in their eyes, it was a red flag.

They also ensured that no staff members were present during the focus groups with the residents, whether they were children or elders. According to the social worker, the most important thing was not to act immediately, based on the concerns.

“First, the child will test you by sharing a minor incident. If you go and question the staff immediately, the child will be reprimanded and won’t trust you. It’s only when they trust you that they will feel comfortable sharing the more serious incidents. If we rush to fix things, we might miss out on the more serious issues that the child wanted to report,” Tarique explained

Speaking about Balika Gruh, he noted that the girls were locked in their rooms and had no access to open spaces.

After being rescued, the girls were moved to different homes, with 17 of them being sent to Bengaluru to pursue hotel management. A report by The Indian Express found that 17 of those 34 girls have since built their lives and are working in hotels across the country. As per the same report, they are now living with their families.

“It feels like we are born again, in a better world. We have a reason to put our torturous past behind us,” a woman from the home who now works in a four-star hotel in Bengaluru told The Indian Express.