Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 20: The scene of the massive protest in Kolkata over the rape and murder of a trainee postgraduate doctor in a state-run hospital was repeated on Tuesday in Thane in Maharashtra where two four-year old girls were sexually abused by a sweeper in the school washroom in Badlapur.
The massive protest by the parents and others was quelled by police batons and tear gas. The Badlapur railway station that was a seething mass of slogan-shouting people for over six hours, emptied in a matter of seconds and a huge police force cracked down. People – many of them sitting down on the railway tracks — started running as batons flashed. From the other side of the station, protesters responded with stones, till the station turned into a war zone. But the police prevailed, giving chase to the protesters as they ran helter-skelter.
The outrage over the sexual assault has grown as more details emerged. Thousands of protesters had flocked to the local train station in Badlapur in the morning and blocked the movement of trains. Six hours on, the crowds grew, leading to concerns about train movement and law and order. The government’s efforts to defuse the tension was answered by chants of ‘hang, hang” from the crowd, who are demanding the death penalty for the 23-year-old cleaner allegedly involved.
What has further enraged the protesters was the Opposition claim that the parents of the girls were made to wait 11 hours at a local police station for a First Information Report. The three police personnel involved have been suspended by the government.
The accused, identified as Akshay Shinde, worked as a cleaner contracted through a third-party company and was arrested after the parents insisted on filing a formal complaint despite initial attempts by the police to play down the issue by delaying filing of the FIR for over 12 hours. The parents, demanding capital punishment for the culprit, called for a shutdown of Badlapur city and halted local trains on Tuesday by protesting on the tracks, disrupting the local railway schedule between Kalyan and Karajat.
Taking cognisance of the incident, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has decided to send a team to Badlapur for investigation.
However, while the BJP has made hue and cry over the Kolkata rape and murder incident demanding the resignation of the chief minister Mamata Banerjee and immediate imposition of the president’s rule claiming that the law and order in West Bengal had failed and there was no security for women in the state, not a single statement of even condemnation made by any BJP leaders on the Maharashtra incident where the BJP is part of the government and its leader and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis hold the home portfolio.
Coming in the backdrop of the Kolkata incident that has created furore in the medical community, the Thane protest had apparently drawn people from surrounding areas. Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said the incident in Badlapur is “bigger” than the rape murder of Kolkata since the girls are just four years old.
“Atrocities are committed on a three-and-half years old girl, a four-year-old girl, and at the police station, they (parents) are made to wait for 11 hours when they seek to file a complaint… Is there any sensitivity left? I spoke to the police commissioner and told him that the woman police officer responsible for this delay must be suspended immediately,” Mr Wadettiwar said.
The two girls were sexually assaulted inside the girls’ toilet at an English Medium school on August 16. The accused has been arrested. The school administration has suspended the principal and dismissed the class teacher and nanny. Investigation revealed several lapses on part of the school – there were no female attendants in the girls’ toilets, a basic safety requirement. Many of the school’s CCTV cameras were not working either.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team, which will be led by a woman IPS officer. The police have also been asked to submit a proposal for a fast-track court to try the case.
Schools in the area remained closed on Tuesday in solidarity with the protesting parents. The Chief Minister Eknath Shinde requested protesters to not block tracks. “I have asked police to make this case water-tight. We will not spare anyone, be it a police officer or school administration,” he said.
The management of the school suspended its principal and two staffers while the Maharashtra government ordered the suspension of three police officials, including a senior police inspector, for alleged dereliction of duty in probing the sexual abuse of two girls amid massive protests. “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,” Mr Fadnavis posted on X.
Hundreds of irate parents and local citizens came onto the tracks at the Badlapur railway station around 8 a.m. and blocked the path of trains to draw the administration’s attention to their demand. The protest affected the movement of trains on Up and Down routes. “The girls had told their parents that the attendant touched them inappropriately, following which a complaint was filed and a case was registered against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was later arrested,” the police said.
The school management also tendered an apology for the episode. It said 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.
“The Badlapur police also transferred the police station in-charge for allegedly failing to act when the parents approached the police,” an official said. A call for Badlapur bandh has been given by several organisations to protest against the incident.