Muzaffarpur shelter home: Lok Sabha adjourns briefly

Lok Sabha proceedings were on Monday adjourned briefly as Congress and other Opposition members created a ruckus over the alleged sexual exploitation of girls at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur and sought a response from Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked the government to take concerns of members seriously following which Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the CBI probe into the case will be fair and Singh will be informed of the members’ sentiments.

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However, members of the Congress and the RJD staged a walkout with Mallikarjun Kharge alleging suppression of evidence and seeking Singh’s reply.

During the Zero Hour, Congress member Ranjeet Ranjan was allowed by the Speaker to raise the issue and RJD’s Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav also spoke about it.

The Speaker did not allow Opposition members to continue discussing the case, saying since it is already being probed by the CBI there was no need to discuss the issue every day.

However, an agitated Ranjan walked into the Well and began speaking in a loud voice. A few minutes later, she also threw a book and some papers kept on the table of Secretary General Snehlata Shrivastava.

Ranjan demanded a reply from Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was present in the House.

Later, a few Congress members and Narayan Yadav joined her in the Well. Holding placards, TDP members were already there as they sought to raise issues related to Andhra Pradesh.

Amid the ruckus, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings for around 10 minutes till 1230 hours.

Opposition members pressed for a response from Singh when the House met but the Speaker said replies from ministers to issues raised during the Zero Hour are not a regular practice.

The CBI should do a proper probe and the government should monitor it, she said.

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The alleged sexual abuse of young girls at a state-funded shelter-home in Muzaffarpur recently came to light following which 14 officials were suspended.

Medical examination of 34 out of the 42-shelter home inmates have confirmed they were sexually exploited. The owner of the shelter home, run by NGO ‘Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti’, Brajesh Thakur, is the main accused in the case.