Male cleaning staff sexually assaults two 4-yr-old girls in school toilet

THANE: Two 4-year-old girls studying in the pre-primary classes of a prominent co-ed school in Badlapur were allegedly sexually assaulted by a 23-yearl-old male cleaning staff member inside a girls’ toilet

THANE: Two 4-year-old girls studying in the pre-primary classes of a prominent co-ed school in Badlapur were allegedly sexually assaulted by a 23-yearl-old male cleaning staff member inside a girls’ toilet.

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The assault took place on 12-13 August, 2024, when the girls, who go for morning classes, had gone to use the toilet. No female staff were appointed by the school for the girls’ toilets. The accused, Akshay Shinde, was appointed on 1 August, 2024 on contractual basis, and took advantage of being in charge of cleaning the girls’ toilets to sexually exploit the minor girls.

The parents of the two girls registered a complaint on Friday night, after which the police arrested the accused.

The sexual assaults came to light after one of the girls complained of pain in her private parts to her parents upon returning home from school. On probing further, she told them that the accused had touched her private parts when she had gone to use the toilet. The shocked parents then contacted the parents of another girl of the same class who was close to their daughter. The girl’s parents said that their daughter was nowadays scared to go to school.

Shitole was not available for comment, so HT contacted her senior, assistant police commissioner, S H Varhade, who said, “We have registered a case in the matter under POCSO Act and BNS Act. After first investigating the matter, we arrested the accused.”

During police investigation, many lapses and negligence on the part of the school management have come to light. Besides not having any female attendant in the girls’ toilets, many of the CCTV cameras at the school were found to be non-functional, a few parents said.