Bihar’s Social Welfare minister Manju Verma resigned on Wednesday, bombarded by allegations that her husband, Chandrakant Verma has links to the Muzaffarpur shelter where over 30 girls, some as young as seven, were raped and tortured.
Addressing a press conference, Verma said, “I have resigned because of the furore created by the media and opposition. I have full faith in both the CBI and the Judiciary. I am sure the truth will be out and my husband will come out clean.”
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Her resignation comes after a couple of days when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar assured that the culprits behind the alleged incident would not be spared, and would be put behind the bars.
Manju, lately, has been in the eye of the storm, after the opposition parties demanded her resignation after her husband’s alleged involvement surfaced.
Verma allegedly used to visit the shelter home quite frequently, spending hours in the girls’ room in the shelter home. Both, the minister as well as her husband had denied the allegations.
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Although her party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stood beside her, one of her party colleagues, Gopal Narayan Singh, had demanded her resignation.
The issue of alleged sexual exploitation of more than 40 girls at a Muzaffarpur shelter home was uncovered more than a month ago by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Later, 11 employees of the child shelter home were arrested.
(With ANI inputs)