Badlapur sexual assault case: Kalyan court grants bail to 2 school trustees
The court observed that the charges levelled against them, failure to report the sexual assaults at their school to the police, were bailable
Mumbai: The Kalyan sessions court granted bail on Thursday to two school trustees arrested in connection with the Badlapur sexual assaults. The court observed that the charge levelled against them—failure to report the sexual assaults at their school to the police—was bailable. However, the court allowed the state-appointed special investigation team (SIT) to arrest the two in a second case registered in connection with the assaults.
Additional district judge PP Muley granted bail to the trustees on furnishing surety of ₹25,000. Following the court's decision to allow SIT to arrest the two in the second case, police stated they would complete the arrest formalities and produce the trustees before the court on Friday.
The SIT, with assistance from the Thane crime branch, arrested school trustees Uday Kotwal and Tushar Apte on Tuesday night. They were apprehended in Karjat. Shortly after his arrest, Kotwal was hospitalised for high blood pressure and discharged on Thursday afternoon, after which the two were produced before the court.
Public prosecutor Ashwini Bhamre Patil informed the court that the accused had appointed the main culprit, Akshay Shinde, without conducting any prior inquiry. She said, "The CCTV footage had been tampered with, preventing the police from accessing the recordings from the day of the crime."
Patil added, "The trustees failed to respond to three notices and did not appear for questioning at the police station, demonstrating a lack of cooperation with the investigation." She argued that their custodial interrogation was necessary.
Defence lawyer CN Sonawane opposed her plea, contending that his clients were charged under Section 21 of the POCSO Act, which is a bailable offence. He referred to some high court orders, holding that the penal section was bailable—meaning that the police were bound to release the accused on bail if they were willing to furnish sureties.
Sonawane said, "The charge-sheet has already been filed, and therefore no further investigation is pending. There is no question of interrogation of the two." Regarding the CCTV footage, he explained that while the cameras were operational, there was an issue with the hard disk, for which his clients should not be held accountable. He further emphasised that they were not involved in the day-to-day functioning of the school.
The court accepted the argument advanced by the defence lawyer that the charges levelled against the trustees were bailable and granted them bail.
Subsequently, the prosecutor and the investigation officer requested police custody of the accused in the second case, stating that additional sections of the POCSO Act have been applied against the two trustees. They argued that further investigation was necessary to determine if the technical evidence has been tampered with.
The court accordingly allowed SIT to arrest the accused in the second case.
The assaults on two four-year-old girls occurred on August 12 and 13, and although the principal informed the trustees, they failed to take immediate action, leading to their arrest under the POCSO Act for non-reporting. Additionally, police discovered that CCTV footage from the school had been tampered with.