Mumbai: The alleged sexual assault on two kindergarten girls at a school at Badlapur in Thane district has caused a huge uproar in Maharashtra on Tuesday, with the Mahayuti government coming in for severe flak from the opposition. The incident triggered massive protests as hundreds of agitated parents and locals blocked the railway tracks at the Badlapur railway station, due to which the suburban local services were disrupted throughout the day.
The incident happened in one of the reputed schools in Badlapur, where two minor students, aged three and four, were sexually abused by a male school attendant. The assault came to light when one of the victims complained of pain in her private parts and disclosed the abuse to her parents. Further investigation revealed that her friend had also been similarly assaulted. The parents of both girls took them to a local doctor, who confirmed that they had been sexually assaulted.
On Tuesday, angry parents and local residents stormed the school, vandalising its property in protest. The protesters also disrupted train services at Badlapur railway station from 8.30 am, with some even hurling stones at the police during the demonstration.
The protestors were seen shouting slogans against the police and demanded death penalty for the sweeper allegedly involved in the assault case. The agitation continued throughout the day even as state minister Girish Mahajan failed to pacify the protesters. The crowd rejected his appeal to vacate the tracks. After several hours of blockade, police lathi-charged protestors sitting on railway tracks in the evening to disperse them.
The accused 23-year-old Akshay Shinde has been arrested. He allegedly sexually abused the girls in the washroom of the school. He worked as a cleaner in the school contracted through a third-party company. The school management has tendered an apology over the incident, adding it has blacklisted the firm which has been given the contract for housekeeping.
The school management has also suspended the principal, a class teacher and a female attendant, over the incident. The state government has ordered the suspension of three police officials, including a senior police inspector, for alleged dereliction of duty in probing the sexual abuse of the two girls.
“The orders of immediate suspension of the senior police inspector, assistant sub-inspector and head constable attached to Badlapur police station for the dereliction of duty have been issued,” said deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio.
Fadnavis said he has also ordered the formation of a special investigation team headed by senior IPS officer Arti Singh to probe the case.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said action will be taken against the school, adding that the case will be fast-tracked and the guilty won’t be spared. “I have spoken to the Thane Commissioner of Police. The accused has been arrested. I have asked the case to be fast-tracked and book the accused under the charges of attempt to rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act,” he said.
The opposition parties have alleged that the parents of the victim girls were made to wait for 11 hours at Badlapur police station before the officials took note of taking their complaints. Leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha Vijay Wadettiwar said, the incident was ‘bigger’ than the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a hospital in Kolkata which has produced national outrage.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushama Andhare demanded resignation of Fadnavis saying that he has failed as a home minister of the state. During his tenure, the atrocities against women have increased, she said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said on one hand, the Mahayuti government is running the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin scheme for women, but daughters of sisters are not safe in the state.
