A Delhi court Monday convicted key accused Brajesh Thakur and 18 others for sexually assaulting several girls in a shelter home run by him in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha convicted Thakur, who once unsuccessfully contested Assembly polls on Bihar People’s Party (BPP) ticket, for several offences including the aggravated penetrative sexual assault under section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and offences of rape and gangrape under the Indian Penal code (IPC).
In its bulky judgment running into 1,546 pages, the court also convicted Thakur for the offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and abetment under IPC, section 21 (failure to report commission of an offence) of the POCSO Act section 75 (cruelty to child) of Juvenile Justice Act.
The court fixed January 28 for hearing arguments on quantum of sentence. The offences entail a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
It however acquitted one Vikki in the case for the want of evidence.
One of the female accused Rosy Rani, former assistant director of child protection unit in Muzaffarpur, was convicted for the offences under section 21(1) (failure to report commission of an offence) of the POCSO Act.
Since the maximum punishment for the offence was six months, which she had already undergone, she was granted bail by the court.
Dillip Kumar Verma, former chairman of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of Muzaffarpur, child protection officer of District Child Protection Unit Ravi Roshan, member of CWC Vikas Kumar and other accused Vijay Kumar Tiwari, Guddu Patel, Kishan Kumar and Ramanuj Thakur were convicted for the offences of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under POCSO
