Top court slams Bihar in Shelter Home cases, asks "Are children not citizens?"

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 27, 2018 : The Bihar government has been pulled up by the Supreme Court for not filing FIRs on allegations of "sodomy" of children at shelter homes in the state. The top court was hearing a separate case of multiple rapes at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur when it found faults in the way the Bihar government has been handling sodomy cases, NDTV reported.

 

The sodomy cases had been filed under the POCSO Act, and not under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which the top court said was not the correct way to handle the case.

Though the Supreme Court overruled its own 2013 decision and partially struck down Section 377, a controversial British-era law that banned consensual gay sex, non-consensual or consent obtained by force continues to be an offence, as will "carnal intercourse with children, animals and bestiality".

"The Bihar government has registered only for minimum offence. If you haven’t registered FIR on 377, then how will you investigate?" the court said. "Child is sodomised, you say FIR will be lodged on Monday. Are we doing any favour to these children? Are they not citizens of this country."

The court said the Bihar government got the report on sodomy cases from a non-profit group in May as part of a larger audit, but "nothing has happened". In its defence, the Bihar government said it acted on the report without delay.

The Bihar chief secretary has been told to explain why First Information Reports or FIRs under Section 377 of the IPC have not been filed to deal with sodomy cases. The state government’s counsel said they will make amends and file the sodomy cases under the IPC as well.

The Supreme Court also warned Bihar that it would consider handing over all shelter home cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation. For now, the CBI is probing only the Muzaffarpur shelter home case.

The court will resume hearing tomorrow.