Patna: The government in India’s Bihar state has suspended six officials in the Social Welfare Department for sitting on a report prepared by an independent agency, which exposed the sexual abuse of girls in a state-run shelter home.

As many as 34 girls were allegedly raped multiple times at the home in Muzaffarpur town, police have confirmed.

The suspension orders were issued late on Saturday night.

The officials placed under suspension were working as assistant directors of Child Protection Units in various places including Muzaffarpur, Munger, Araria, Madhubani, Bhagalpur and Bhojpur districts.

The officials in question have been charged with “failure to take adequate legal action” with regard to sexual exploitation of girls lodged at the shelter home.

The government cracked down on the erring officials shortly after opposition parties headed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav staged a sit in at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday evening and launched scathing attacks on the state government for turning a blind eye to the continued sexual abuse of girls at the care home and then sitting on the report of the independent agency which highlighted the horror.

The symbolic protest which was followed by a candle march to seek justice for the victims turned out to be a great success after it was joined by scores of national opposition leaders, including Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, D. Raja of the Communist Party of India, Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinamool Congress and Sharad Yadav from Loktantrik Janat Dal.

Addressing the meeting, the speakers launched attacks on the ruling Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, accusing it of shielding the perpetrators.

Yadav, who also happens to be the leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, demanded a completion of the entire investigation within three months and called for the death penalty for the rapists.

The case is currently being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The sexual abuse came to light after the a team from the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Mumbai, which visited the shelter home in February this year reported sexual exploitation of inmates in its audit report.

The TISS submitted the report in May but a case was only registered in July, reports said.

At the care home, the victim girls — one as young as seven — were allegedly drugged, raped, forced to sleep naked and scalded with boiling water by the care home officials when they refused to follow their orders, a police charge-sheet has revealed.

Meanwhile, Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma has come in the firing line of the opposition parties who have sought her resignation.

The opposition alleges the minister’s husband was one of the frequent visitors at the care home, an allegation rejected by the minister.

She has vowed to punish her husband if he is found guilty during the investigation.

The minister faced even greater embarrassment when a Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian Dr C.P. Thakur, called for her resignation on moral grounds.

“Manju Verma take moral responsibility for what happened in the shelter home being run under her department and resign,” Thakur said.

He wondered how it was possible that such a crime happened and there was no information about it with the Social Welfare Department.