Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 21: The Internet services at Badlapur were suspended on Wednesday, a day after the small town in Maharashtra’s Thane district witnessed a massive protest over sexual assault of two nursery class girls in their school washroom allegedly by a school sweeper.
The police said 72 people have been arrested in connection with the violence during the stir. “At least 17 city police personnel and around eight railway cops were injured in the incidents of stone-pelting at the railway station and other parts of Badlapur during the protest on Tuesday,” they said.
Police have been deployed in large numbers across Badlapur to maintain law and order, and the situation in the town is back to normal. Entire Badlapur town virtually came to a standstill on Tuesday after thousands of protesters blocked railway tracks at the station and stormed the school building, where sexual abuse of two girls by the school sweeper took place last week.
The protesters hurled stones at police personnel and vandalised the school building during the protest. The police cane-charged the protesters to disperse them and clear the tracks for train movement. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sudhakar Pathare said on Wednesday that internet services in the town have been suspended in the wake of the protest and subsequent violence.
“The internet services will be restored after taking a review of the situation in the town,” he said. “Most schools in the town remained shut on Wednesday,” local people said.
“At least 17 city police personnel, including two officers, were injured as an angry mob attacked them with stones during the protest in Badlapur on Tuesday (August 20, 2024) over the sexual abuse of two girls. We have registered three FIRs on charges of violation of prohibitory orders, armed unlawful assembly, assault, and damage to public property, among others against the miscreants,” a senior police official in Badlapur said.
Maharashtra Police has arrested more than 40 people and registered FIR against 300 people following the agitation which led to stone-pelting, disruption of train services and lathi-charge. Maharashtra police have also heightened the security at the railway station as police personnel have been deployed to ensure there is no repetition of Tuesday’s outbreak.
Besides suspending internet services, shops were ordered to remain closed. DCP, GRP of Railway Police Manoj Patil said the situation was normal now. “The situation is normal now. Railway movement is also normal. No section has been imposed. Internet services will be suspended for a few days so that rumours do not spread.” Manoj Patil said.
The railway service, after 10 hours of halt, resumed late at night after the police dispersed the protestors. Speaking to the media, Government Railway Police (GRP) Commissioner Ravindra Shisve said, “The track has been cleared and the report will be sent to the railway operations to ensure that the operations can be started.”
A close relative of one of the two four-year-old kindergarten students, who were allegedly sexually abused by the cleaning staff said the child was still in shock.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the incident 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 cleaning staff member, Akshay Shinde, 23, was arrested on August 17, while the school management has suspended the principal, a class teacher and a woman attendant.
“After the incident, the child refused to go to school. She was not even walking properly. We thought she might be having a urinary tract infection. We, however, noticed that she was avoiding going to the washroom.” said the relative.
“We then learned about an incident involving her classmate. Her classmate’s father and our relative’s grandfather are friends. The other parent mentioned that his daughter told him a ‘dada’ (elder brother) misbehaved with her, which prompted their family to go for a medical test. After this conversation, the grandfather decided to get our child tested too, as she was reluctant to go to school or pee,” the relative said.
The family was shocked with the results, which indicated sexual assault. “We somehow managed to gather the courage to file a police complaint. On August 16, we went to the police station with the girl and the initial medical report. We were made to wait for 11-12 hours. We reminded them twice to take our complaint but the staff just kept responding rudely. They repeatedly asked us to stand outside the police station. Finally, we approached a local political leader, who used her influence to get our complaint lodged,” the relative said.
“After the FIR was filed, we were asked to undergo a medical test at a government hospital. We were asked to be there at 9 am the next day, so we reached by 8.45 am. But the police delayed the procedure. They arrived around 11 am,” the relative said.
The relative also mentioned that they suspect there could be a few more cases in the school, but parents and girls are afraid to come forward.
According to the relative, a few days ago, a few parents had informed the class teacher about the misconduct of the accused arrested in this case, but she didn’t pay attention. “If a child is on a bathroom break for 15 minutes, shouldn’t the teacher check on her/him? More so because the restrooms are far from the class and attendants assist the students,” the relative said.
After the incident, when the family approached the school for CCTV footage, the school denied access, saying the system was shut down for the past 15 days. The family also alleged that the school management might have tampered with the evidence. The family also claimed that police had asked them not to speak with anyone or attend any protest on this issue.