The Supreme Court on Thursday banned electronic media from telecasting images of minor girls, even in morphed or blurred forms, who were allegedly raped at a shelter home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district, Bar and Bench reported. The Supreme Court also expressed concern over the identity of minor rape victims revealed in the media, ANI reported.

The Supreme Court said this while taking suo motu cognisance of the sexual abuse case in the juvenile home and issued notices to the Centre and the Bihar government. The bench also asked the media not to interview the girls and sought assistance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

“They cannot be compelled to relive the trauma again and again,” the bench of Justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta said, PTI reported. It also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to take assistance of professional counsellors and qualified child psychiatrist while questioning the minors. It then posted the matter for further hearing on Tuesday.

The sexual exploitation at the juvenile home came to light after Mumbai’s TISS submitted an audit report in April and the government filed a first information report on May 31, Social Welfare Department Principal Secretary Atul Prasad had said. Ten of the 11 accused in the case have been arrested so far. An inmate of the state-run shelter had earlier claimed that the body of a girl was buried on the premises.

On Sunday, the Central Bureau of Investigation took over the inquiry following the state government’s request. The Bihar Police said on Saturday that 34 minor girls may have been raped at the shelter home run by Seva Sankalp Evam Vikash Samiti, as against the earlier figure of 29. Medical examinations of 44 girls conducted last week revealed that 29 of them had been raped. Later, a fresh medical report released by the Patna Medical College and Hospital put the number at 34.