The Bihar government has finally made public a Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) report on children’s shelter homes in the state, which said three out of every four inmates have complained of abuse of some kind. But it’s not clear when the report was submitted to the state government.The report, which exposed sexual abuse of nearly three dozen girls in a shelter home in Muzzafarpur, carries a ‘letter of submission’ from the TISS team dated March 15, 2018, but the state government has inserted a ‘correction note’ in the report as late as on July 25 saying that date (March 15) was a “mistake” and the report submission date should be read as “April 27 or May 9”. The first FIR in the matter was lodged on May 29. The 80-page audit report, reviewed by ET, also said 75% of inmates interviewed across the state reported one or other kind of abuse. It said 50% of all inmates interviewed by them across the state complained of physical abuse, 12% complained of sexual abuse and 13% others reported harassment, humiliation or physical labour. The TISS team clarified to ET that the March 15 date was indeed a mistake and that the report was submitted to the Bihar government on April 27.Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav has cited the TISS letter to allege that the Bihar government sat on the report for over 75 days before main accused Brajesh Thakur was arrested on June 1. “Even a delay of one month, as admitted by Bihar government itself, is unpardonable given the gravity of revelations made,” an RJD leader said.The report said a “culture of silent fear” was found to be prevalent in certain homes, like in Muzzafarpur and it took TISS team more time than usual to get residents in these institutions to speak at all. “Although once they began to talk, they talked of unimaginable instances of violence and often broke down in middle of the conversation,” it said.“Institutions of all categories were found to be indulging in some form of abuse. Incidents of harassment, sexual abuse, corporal punishment, neglect and humiliation were reported rampantly,” it said. A senior Bihar government official said, “Over a dozen officers in districts have been suspended for the delay in action on the TISS report.” While issuing these suspension orders, Bihar government had said it had marked action on the report on May 26.According to the report, several girls at the Muzzafarpur home reported being abused sexually. The centre ran in a “highly questionable manner” and “this is very serious”, it said. Girls here had no access to any sort of open space and were literally locked up except when they went for meals, it said.“Violence emerged as the most prominent factor outlining the nature of institutions” and “the most dangerous aspect is the acceptance of violence as normal; as something that is natural and bound to happen” under the given circumstances, it said. “The state might have created these institutions as a measure of care and protection, but the memories that are being created are far from that,” the report said. Atul Prasad, principal secretary at social welfare department, in his forward to the report said: “The report reminds us of certain grave concerns that we cannot afford to ignore or deny anymore.”