NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over the alleged rape of girls at a shelter home in Bihar, the Supreme Court slammed the state government on Tuesday for virtually “financing the horrific acts” despite being warned about the activities of the NGO which ran the home, and failing to take timely action. Describing the number of reported cases of rape in India as “disconcerting”, the court said: “What is to be done? Girls and women are getting raped left, right and centre. As per National Crime Records Bureau data, 38,947 cases of rape were reported in 2016, which means every day four women are raped.”

Putting the state government in the dock for its failure to rein in such NGOs, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, Deepak Gupta and K M Joseph said the state government was aware of the goings-on but no action was taken against the Muzaffarpur-based NGO while its owner and main accused in the case remained in the good books of the government and continued to get funds.

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The bench passed the remarks after advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Tata Institute of Social Sciences, informed that the social audit had raised concerns of rape in 15 of 110 such shelter homes in the state six months ago, including the one in Muzaffarpur . She said the report had so far not been made public but the issue was flagged.

“Why has the report not been made public? Is it an official secret? It means that some of the officers of the state government had knowledge about it but action was not taken... Have you taken action against the 15 NGOs?” the bench asked senior advocate Ranjit Kumar who was appearing for the state government. Kumar said the Bihar government had ordered a CBI probe into the Muzaffarpur incident and all accused, except one who is absconding, had been arrested.

He said action had been taken against six of the 15 NGOs about which concerns were raised during the social audit. He said action had also been taken against government officials and some of them had been suspended. The court, however, wondered how the state government could fund NGOs without examining their credentials.

“People are paying taxes and you are giving people’s money to these institutions. It is not a private organisation but funded by the government and it means that the state financed these activities,” it said. The court directed the government to place the audit reports and also frame a comprehensive plan on counselling and rehabilitation of the rape survivors.

It ordered that even morphed pictures and videos of minor rape survivors would not be published or broadcast on any media platform, including on social media.

