Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) vice-president and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi on Friday wanted the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to resign in the aftermath of horrible mass rapes of little girls in a care home and said the latter doesn’t deserve to stay in office even for a second.
As many as 34 girls aged between seven and 14 years were raped for years in the care home run by a non-governmental organisation, an official report has confirmed, leading to an inquiry into the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The investigation is being monitored by the Patna High Court. The Supreme Court too has taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and pulled up the state government for alleged slackness on its part.
“Nitish Kumar should immediately quit. The resignation of Manju Verma (who was serving as social welfare minister in the government) won’t suffice. The chief minister will have to go too,” Rabri demanded, speaking to a TV news channel on Friday. The social welfare minister resigned on Wednesday after the name of her husband surfaced in the incident.
Launching a scathing attack on the ruling regime, she held the chief minister “responsible” for all the horrors. “The chief minister is guilty. The mass rape (of girls) has taken place under his eyes, in his government’s home,” she stated adding the chief minister should be ashamed of the shameful act and quit. “Our little daughters were drugged, injected and raped … it’s horrible. My head hangs in shame, but the chief minister is not ashamed of it and is firmly seated on the throne,” she exclaimed. She described the incident as “very grave” which, according to her, had been going on for a long time.
“I’m wondering how the government didn’t get a hint of such horrible acts in the shelter home. How can the chief minister escape from his responsibility by simply stating that he was not aware about it? Why was he not aware about this when he was routinely holding review meetings of every department? Why didn’t he review the functioning of the social welfare department and if he did, then how did his government release funds?” asked Rabri, wife of RJD chief and former federal railway minister Lalu Prasad now out on bail in fodder scam case.
She also questioned the silence of the people in power and alleged many political bigwigs were involved in the incident. “The people from the ruling parties were involved in the sexual abuse of girls. Who else could have gone there where the NDA is in power both in Bihar and the Centre?” she asked, demanding that the victim girls should be given justice.
