Rage spills on road, tracks after 4-year-old girls sexually assaulted in Badlapur school

The sexual assault on two 4-year-old toddlers in a Badlapur school and the local police’s tardiness in registering an FIR became a flashpoint

THANE: The sexual assault on two 4-year-old toddlers in a Badlapur school and the local police’s tardiness in registering an FIR became a flashpoint for thousands of protestors to erupt on the streets and on the railway tracks on Tuesday morning.

Badlapur residents staged a protest at Badlapur station all of Tuesday. The protestors also slammed the CM’s Ladki Bahin Yojana scheme, saying that instead of doling out ₹1,500 a month to women, the government should ensure their security. (Pramod Tambe /HT Photo)

The protests that began in front of the school before moving on to the tracks at Badlapur station threw central railway suburban network into chaos. The blockade started at 10.10 am and the last of the protestors were finally cleared off the tracks at 6.15 pm.

Home minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a Special Investigative Team will be investigating the case and that it would be fast-tracked. He also directed Thane police commissioner Ashutosh Dumbre to suspend the in charge and the staff at Badlapur police station for their laxity in the registration of FIR.

The school which caters to mainly the Agri-Koli community in and around Badlapur had appointed 23-year-old Akshay Shinde on a contractual basis to clean their toilets on August 1. Within 10 days of joining, he had allegedly sexually assaulted the two girls on different days. The school failed to monitor him and neither did they have a female cleaner present in their washrooms.

On August 12, one of the girls told her parents about the assault and which was confirmed by a medical examination but when the child’s parents complained to the school the following day, they turned them away saying that she could have been assaulted by an outsider. The father of the child then went to the Badlapur police station where too the police did not take his complaint seriously.

The parent kept going to the school authorities urging them to find the culprit. In the meanwhile, his daughter told him that another of her classmates had been similarly assaulted. The father then approached the grandparents of the other girl and informed them of the sequence of events.

On August 16 morning, the two sets of parents went again to the school and also to the police station. There, they, including the pregnant mother of one of the students were made to wait by the cops for several hours before registering the FIR at 10.30 pm.

A similar delay was reported the next day when the parents reached the police station for a follow up. They were first made to wait as the police claimed they had no vehicle to take the two girls to the government hospital for their medical examination and then again back at the police station where their statements were recorded only at 11 pm.

The trauma, the long wait and procedural delays caused the two children significant distress, resulting in fever, said one of the parents who came out to protest on Tuesday. Though the cleaner was arrested on Saturday and the school suspended the principal and the class teacher of the girls, the parents who were discussing the issue on the school WhatsApp group were livid over the attitude and action of the police and the school authorities, and decided to launch a public protest.

Over the weekend and the rakhi holiday they discussed among themselves about the modalities of the protest. Scores of residents were roped in to circulate posters and messages about the incident at the primary school, appeals were launched for more and more people to join in. With sentiments already high following the rape of the doctor in Kolkata, news of the assault on the two toddlers had an incendiary effect.

Photographs of the accused were circulated on WhatsApp, demanding that he be hanged and hundreds of residents updated their WhatsApp DPs and status calling for the protest.

As planned, parents of the children studying at the school began gathering outside the main gate by 6 am. The thousand-strong gathering then demanded a meeting with the school’s trustees to discuss their security concerns. They carried placards against the government saying instead of giving money to Ladki Bahin, the government should ensure their security.

Swara Prasad, a Badlapur resident whose niece studies in the school and who was present at the protest said they wanted to meet the school authorities, “People who are supposed to care for our children and to tell them how their negligence has led to our children suffering.” Another parent, Sai Walmiki, who was at the school told HT: “We need to change the entire school committee, as it’s their carelessness that has led to this incident.”

The school authorities, however, instead of addressing the parents’ concerns refused to meet the protesting guardians. MNS leader Sangita Chedvankar who initially highlighted the issue and led the parents, called off the protest when she noticed that what was intended to be a silent protest was getting out of control. “When the agitated parents pushed open the school gates and charged in, I decided call off the protest and leave,” she said.

By this time as the word of the protest spread more people joined in. At around 10.15am, the parents left the school premises and blocked the flyover that connects Badlapur East to the West and began setting tyres on fire. The blocking of the bridge at peak hour resulted in traffic backing up at both ends of the flyover.

The protestors, their numbers considerably swelled up by now, marched towards the Badlapur railway station and blocked the tracks demanding the accused be hanged. When the police tried to pacify the crowd, they were pelted with chappals and bottles. A section of the protestors also vandalised the school premises, including classrooms.

Police called for additional reinforcements and had to fire teargas shells and fire warning shots in the air to disperse the crowd from the school. Several protestors were detained from the school.

During the chaos and violent clashes outside the school, many women fainted and a few police personnel were assaulted.

When a few lawmakers tried to negotiate with the protesters, they were heckled and driven away. Subsequently all political parties pulled back their representatives from the protest site.