Badlapur Sexual Assault: SIT Books School's Governing Body, Staff For Failing to Report Abuse of 4-Year-Olds

In a first in the state, the Maharashtra government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) has named the governing body of the school in Badlapur, where a cleaning staff member allegedly sexually assaulted two four-year-olds, in the case filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for failing to report the incidents to police. Apart from the management members, the class teacher and two women attendants, too, have been named, said sources.

According to the earlier First Information Report (FIR) related to the incident, the assaults took place in the school toilet on August 13 and the parents informed the police on August 16. They alleged the FIR was filed 11 hours after their complaint. The accused, Akshay Shinde, 23, was arrested on August 17, while the school management has suspended the principal, the class teacher and a woman attendant.

Badlapur on Tuesday erupted in anger over the incident and police insensitivity, vandalizing the school premises and causing a rail roko for 10 hours. Three police officers have been suspended.

A family member of one of the survivors in an exclusive interview to News18 said that a few days ago, a few parents had informed the class teacher about the arrested accused’s “misconduct”, but the teacher didn’t pay any attention.

In an interview to News18 Lokmat, the principal alleged that the girls’ class teacher and two women attendants knew about the incident and that he had even told some people about the management about it.

According to the law, the school should have immediately reported the incidents.

The family member said that there could be more incidents, but parents and girls are scared to speak up. The kin narrated how they were made to wait for over 11 hours on two days, in what they suspected was an attempt to cover up the incident.

The Bombay high court, too, took suo motu cognisance of the incident. The HC on Thursday lambasted the Thane Police and administration over the law and order situation and voiced serious concerns about school safety, highlighting that if schools aren’t safe, discussions on the right to education lose significance. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan said it was appalled to note that the Badlapur police had not probed the case properly.