Minister suspects role of Badlapur school officials in missing CCTV footage
Mumbai: Maharashtra Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar on Monday said that CCTV footage of the past 15 days is missing from the Badlapur school where two nursery girls were sexually assaulted on August 13. The minister added that a probe is ongoing to ascertain how the footage went missing and if any school officials had a hand in it.
“The school education department had sought a report over the incident. We found that the CCTV footage of 15 days is missing. We have told the police to investigate how it went missing. Since the crime was committed near the washroom, we sought CCTV footage and then the committee was told it had gone missing,” Kesarkar said.
Two four-year-old kindergarten girls were sexually abused at a school in Badlapur, which is a far off suburb in the Mumbai Metropolitan region. The police have arrested a school attendant in the case. However, the police as well as the school administration have been accused of trying to hush up the matter initially.
The state government has formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the case after a massive public outrage and protests over the police inaction. It has also appointed renowned lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as the special public prosecutor in the case.
Kesarkar further said that the school education department has submitted its inquiry report in the case to the state Home department for further probe and action. He added that the school education department would provide a separate desk to deal with such cases.
The state government has also announced monetary help for the families of victims and support for their education till graduation. Informing about it, the minister said, “There are two cases. One is of rape. The victim’s parents have been given Rs 10 lakh. The other case is of sexual assault in which the state government has given Rs three lakh to the parents.”
Meanwhile, a court in Thane district on Monday remanded the arrested accused to 14-day judicial custody.
The opposition has slammed the government over the missing CCTV footage. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi posted on her social media handle, “As expected CCTV footage from the day of the Badlapur incident is missing. How can the school be allowed to get away with the criminalities? This is a ‘Mahajhooti’ sarkar.”
