Uddhav Calls Shinde ‘Abnormal’ for Claiming Badlapur Protests Were Politically Motivated

Mumbai: The opposition continued to target the ruling Mahayuti government over the Badlapur sexual assault case with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray saying those who called public protests politically motivated are abnormal. Meanwhile, in a new twist, the parents of the accused claimed that their son has been falsely implicated in the case.

“Those who feel there is politics behind the Badlapur protest are either abnormal or protectors of the culprits,” Thackeray said.

The Sena (UBT) chief’s attack was apparently aimed at chief minister Eknath Shinde’s claims that the protest was politically motivated and most of the protesters had come from outside.

“Does Shinde approve this dastardly act? To protest the incident, we have announced a Maharashtra Bandh on August 24. There is no political motive behind the bandh called by the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on August 24. It is aimed at creating awareness that the security of women should be a priority and also awakening the government. The bandh is the manifestation of anger," he said.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday had alleged that the protest at Badlapur station over the alleged sexual assault on the two girl students was politically motivated with an aim to malign the state government and those involved in it were mostly outsiders.

Meanwhile, the parents of the accused have claimed that their son was innocent and he had been framed. They also claimed that the accused had some medical issues in his childhood and was mentally weak. But he has taken medicines for that.

“Our son had been doing the job for the past 15 days. He used to go to the school by 11 am daily to clean the bathroom. He would then proceed to another place for similar work,” his mother claimed. She said they learnt on August 13 that such an incident had happened in the school. Their son was detained on August 17, she added.

The arrested accused's mother said she and her husband also used to go to the Badlapur school every day to clean the premises. “We used to go to the school at 5.30 pm daily for the cleaning work and come out around 8.30 pm,” she said.

Meanwhile, scores of parents stormed into a school in Thane on Thursday seeking action against a teacher who allegedly hit a student, resulting in injuries to his head. As per parents, the woman teacher, who allegedly hit the student, routinely subjected students to abusive language over the last two years and would ask them to boycott some of their colleagues.

The parents, who entered the school along with local functionaries of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, claimed previous complaints to the management had yielded no results. The management has taken a lethargic approach in the matter so far and the teacher must not be allowed to be part of the school, Thane-Palghar MNS chief Avinash Jadhav said.