The Patna High Court on Tuesday quashed a plea seeking anticipatory bail for Bihar’s former Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma in a case under the Arms Act, reported PTI.
In August, the Bihar Police registered a first information report against Verma and her husband after 50 cartridges were found at her in-laws’ house during a raid. The FIR was registered following a raid that was conducted in connection with the rapes of 34 minor girls in a shelter home in Muzaffarpur district.
On August 25, Verma moved the High Court after her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by a Begusarai court. Last month, the superintendent of police in Begusarai district ordered her arrest.
Verma had stepped down from her post on August 8 after allegations surfaced about her husband Chandeshwar Verma’s links to Brajesh Thakur, who used to run the shelter. She accused the media and the Opposition of creating a furore and demanded that Thakur’s call records be made public. The wife of an accused in the case claimed that Chandeshwar Verma was a regular visitor to the shelter home.
The alleged sexual exploitation of children in the shelter in Muzaffarpur came to light after Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences submitted an audit report of 110 shelter homes in Bihar in April. The audit had been ordered by the state government, which filed a first information report against 11 people, including Thakur, on May 31. A medical report confirmed the sexual assault of 34 inmates.
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