The deaf-mute seven-year-old who could not speak of her sexual abuse broke my heart. Covered with bruises she told her story last month, through a fellow inmate, to a judge of her assault at a girls' shelter in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. What a nightmare. It's something I can never imagine. I think of my daughters. Also, I feel utter shame: my hometown is now and forever associated with this vile tale of paedophilia, rape, torture and god knows what other cruelty that took place, for god knows how long.

In July, a Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) team did a social audit and found that the home's 45 residents, between seven and 17, were raped and/or prostituted for VIPs by the shelter's owner, Brajesh Thakur. Medical tests confirmed 34 raped. Some were pregnant, some had had abortions. Four girls had run away. One girl was reported dead but an excavation of the grounds yielded nothing. A total 471 girls have stayed there since it began operations in November 2013. A FIR was registered on July 31, ten persons arrested. One fugitive is untraced. More arrests are expected as the investigation deepens.