Thane sexual assault: Protesters storm school building, block rail tracks

THOUSANDS of protesters on Tuesday blocked railway tracks at Badlapur station in Thane district and stormed a local school building after the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old girls by the school sweeper in the washroom.

Police cane-charged the protesters, who occupied the railway tracks, pelting stones at policemen.

Hundreds of protesters, many of them angry parents, vandalised the school building to express their disgust over the sexual assault.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he has ordered the formation of a special investigation team headed by senior IPS officer Arti Singh.

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.

At Badlapur station, incensed protestors were seen shouting “hai, hai” slogans against the police officials and demanded death penalty for the sweeper allegedly involved the assault.

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Maharashtra School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar said `Vishakha committees' will be formed in schools, which will also face action if CCTV cameras installed on their premises are found to be non-functional.

The panels will provide a platform for raising grievances of girl students, especially those in standards 9th, 10th and junior college, the minister said.

A notice has been issued to the Badlapur school, and its principal, a few teachers and two assistants have been suspended, Kesarkar said.

The protest at Badlapur railway station in Thane district continued throughout the day as the crowd, including several women, refused to heed pleas of officials to allow the passage of trains.

State minister Girish Mahajan tried to pacify the protesters in the afternoon who raised slogans seeking justice for the victims and capital punishment for the arrested accused.

BJP MLA from the Murbad assembly constituency in Thane district, Kisan Kathore, alleged the protest at Badlapur railway station was politically motivated, adding the agitators came from neighbouring areas and not from Badlapur.

Attendant arrested

Police on August 17 arrested an attendant at the school for sexually abusing the two kindergarten girls. As per the complaint, he abused the girls in the toilet of the school, an official said.

While the school management has suspended the principal, a class teacher, and a female attendant, over the incident, the state government on Tuesday 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 Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio.

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.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday demanded a fast-track trial and speedy justice in the case.

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 an apparent reference to the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata, where the Mamata Banerjee-led government has come under fire, the Sena (UBT) chief said politics was being done over crime against women by targeting certain states.

Shinde said he has directed the police that the accused arrested for sexually abusing two girl students at a school in Badlapur in Thane district be booked under the attempt to rape charge.

He said a special public prosecutor will be appointed for the case.

"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 the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act," he said.

The school management has tendered an apology over the episode, adding it has blacklisted the firm which has been given the contract for housekeeping.

Vigilance on the school premises will be increased in the wake of the incident, the school authorities said.  (PTI)