Badlapur case: Police lathi-charge crowd blocking railway tracks

People in Badlapur of Maharashtra's Thane district are protesting the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old girls by a male cleaner in their school.

After several hours of blockade, police in Badlapur of Maharashtra's Thane district lathi-charged protestors sitting on railway tracks to protest the alleged sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls by a cleaner, 23, in their school.

The protest began at Badlapur railway station began on Tuesday morning (ANI)

Visuals on ANI showed police personnel in anti-riot gear, charging at the crowd on Tuesday evening; chased away, the mob responded by pelting stones at the police.

Following the lathi-charge, the track was cleared around 6:15 pm, within minutes of the crackdown. The protest at Badlapur railway station had started at 10:10 am.

“The track has been cleared and the report will be sent to the Railways so that operations can resume,” Ravindra Shisve, Commissioner, Government Railway Police (GRP), told reporters.

The crowd had earlier rejected an appeal from minister Girish Mahajan, who tried to pacify and convince them to vacate the tracks.

Meanwhile, condemning the police's action, Priyanka Chaturvedi of the opposition Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) alleged that the orders for the crackdown came from the state government.

“Lathi charged for asking for justice. Lathi charged for saying enough is enough. Lathi charged for asking our daughters to be safe. Not the police force I have known, I have trusted, I have believed in. Has to come from the government in charge,” Chaturvedi said on X (formerly Twitter).

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, has ordered suspension of three police personnel for the initial delay in lodging the First Information Report (FIR).

Also, chief minister Eknath Shinde has announced that the accused will be tried in a fast-track court.