Four first information reports were registered against around 500 protestors and more than 66 persons were arrested in Maharashtra’s Thane district on Tuesday after demonstrations against the alleged sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls in Badlapur, reported The Indian Express.
The girls were allegedly sexually assaulted by a male attendant at their school on August 12. One of them told her parents about the assault on August 16, after which they approached the police.
The accused, Akshay Shinde, has been arrested and booked under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
The police had arrested Shinde on August 17. A local court on Wednesday extended his police custody till August 26.
On Tuesday, train services were disrupted for ten hours as thousands of protestors gathered at Badlapur railway station and stopped local trains.
The arrested persons have been charged with rioting, damaging public property and causing hurt to public servants, Badlapur’s Deputy Commissioner of Police Sudhakar Pathare told The Indian Express.
More arrests will be made after identifying the protestors through closed-circuit television, or CCTV footage.
Authorities have also suspended internet services in Badlapur since Tuesday evening to curb the spread of rumours about the incident on social media, reported The Indian Express. Internet services will also remain suspended on Wednesday.
Maharashtra government forms SIT to probe the case
Amid the outrage over the alleged sexual abuse, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday formed a special investigation team to probe the case.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the team will be led by Indian Police Service officer Arti Singh. He added that Ujjwal Nikam will be appointed as the special public prosecutor for the case.
Nikam had contested the Lok Sabha elections on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket. He lost to Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad.
On Tuesday, the state government also suspended the senior police inspector, assistant sub-inspector, and head constable of the Badlapur police station, who allegedly delayed the initial response.
Opposition leaders alleged that the parents of the girls were made to wait for 11 hours at the Badlapur police station before their complaints were registered, reported PTI.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule alleged that the police did not register a first information report for over 18 hours after the incident.
“The government should resign if it cannot ensure security and justice for the daughters of this state,” Sule said. “Under Devendra Fadnavis, there is always a law and order failure.”
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) president Uddhav Thackeray questioned the purpose of Rs 1,500 monthly aid under the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin scheme if the government cannot ensure women’s safety, reported The Indian Express.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi, which includes the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Uddhav Sena, on Wednesday called for a “Maharashtra Bandh” on August 24 to protest the incident, The Indian Express reported.
The Opposition parties took the decision after a meeting, said Vijay Wadettiwar, the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.
Fadnavis said that Sule and Thackeray should rise above politics in such matters.
“Uddhav Thackeray, as a former Chief Minister, should rise above politics,” the BJP leader said. “Instead of playing political games, he should focus on providing relief and justice. Supriya Sule and Uddhav Thackeray seem more interested in politics than addressing the public’s concerns.”
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced that the case would be fast-tracked in a special court “to ensure strict punishment for the accused”.
Shinde on Wednesday also said that the protest in Badlapur a day earlier was “politically motivated”, The Indian Express reported.
“Generally whenever there is a protest, the locals are involved,” he said. “But in this case, people came from outside in vehicles.”
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