Five years on, girls who survived abuse in Muzaffarpur shelter home rebuild their lives

“No one is bothered about our past now. We are enjoying this life. My first aim is to have savings of Rs 10 lakh before I think of getting married,” said one of the women, who works in Karnataka.

It was in May 2018 that a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) brought to light instances of sexual abuse at shelter homes in Bihar, particularly at one in Muzaffarpur run by former MLA Brajesh Thakur. This led to a CBI investigation, and Thakur and 18 others were sentenced to life in prison by a POCSO court in Delhi in 2020.

To rehabilitate the residents of these shelter homes, the state’s Social Welfare Department decided to send them to Bengaluru to study hotel management. The first batch of 14 girls from different shelter homes were sent for the one-year diploma course in 2020, and after they successfully completed it, the department sent two more batches.

In total, 45 girls and 20 boys from shelter homes in Bihar, including 17 girls from the Muzaffarpur home, were trained in hotel management.

A woman who now works in a four-star hotel recounted: “Most of us had not been exposed to the outer world before this, so it was a tough journey. I remember travelling by air for the first time; those with window seats looked at the clouds throughout.” She said they were given training in English speaking and hospitality. “It feels like we are born again, in a better world. We have a reason to put our tortuous past behind.”

The Bihar government has also decided to invite tenders for the “after-care” programme to rehabilitate those currently living in more than a dozen shelter homes across the state.

Bhojpur District Magistrate Raj Kumar, who was the director of the Social Welfare Department when it decided to send the shelter home residents to Bengaluru, said a team of officials from the department and UNICEF went to the city in 2019 to look into different “after-care” models. They decided on the idea to help the shelter home residents get employment in the hospitality industry.

Getting them admission into a hotel management course was a challenge, Kumar said, because institutes demanded that applicants have passed class 10.

“A Bengaluru institute made an exception for us and decided to relax the minimum qualification to class 8 pass. Between 2019 and 2020, we helped 14 girls (of the first batch), including some from the Muzaffarpur home, get class 8 pass certificates,” he said.

They were then flown to Bengaluru with a suitcase packed with clothes, sanitary napkins, and Rs 5,000 in cash, he said.

“We sent a woman official to Bengaluru every month to get updates on their training and to boost their morale. We also did Zoom calls with them every week,” he said. Girls from the Muzaffarpur shelter were specially given counselling by a TISS team, he said.

A UNICEF official who was part of the process said they helped the girls and boys learn basic English and get Aadhaar cards.

One of the girls from the Muzaffarpur shelter home, now working at a hotel in Karnataka, said: “No one is bothered about our past now. We are enjoying this life very much. My first aim is to have savings of Rs 10 lakh before I think of getting married.”

Most of the girls have been in touch with Bihar Social Welfare Department officials, who have been following up on their progress, she said.

Bihar Public Service Commission chairperson Atul Prasad, who was earlier additional chief secretary of the Social Welfare Department, said: “Finally, there is some sort of a happy ending to the tortuous tale. This has taught us to look at new models of rehabilitation. It is heartening to know that these girls, who had seen great darkness, are now confident professionals. We are also relieved that 17 Muzaffarpur shelter home girls are with their families.”