NGO owner Brajesh Thakur and 18 others were on Monday convicted by a Delhi court for sexual and physical assault on several girls in a Muzaffarpur shelter home.

Additional sessions judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha convicted Thakur for aggravated sexual assault under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and gang rape.

The court acquitted one of the accused in the case.

The shelter home was run by Thakur, former MLA of Bihar People's Party (BPP).

The accused included 12 men and eight women.

The scandal came to light after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) published its social audit report on shelter homes last year. After the report became public, an FIR was lodged in May last year.

Over 30 girls were raped and sexually abused at the Muzaffarpur shelter home and some of them had to undergo abortion. The issue was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to Bihar’s social welfare department.

The Muzaffarpur shocker had led to the Supreme Court repeatedly castigating the government.

Manju Verma, social welfare minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, had to resign after it was revealed that her husband was in frequent touch with Brajesh over the phone and it was alleged that the minister’s husband was a regular visitor to the shelter home.

Both Manju and her husband later surrendered in court and are in jail.

An FIR was lodged on May 31, 2018, against 11 people, including Thakur, who was running the shelter home. Later, the probe was taken over by the CBI and 17 other people were arrested in the case.

The girls’ tales of horror were recorded in the court before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.