Child rights body accuses Badlapur school of covering up sexual assault

The Badlapur school, where two young girls were allegedly sexually abused, preferred to cover up the crime instead of helping their parents file a police complaint, said Susieben Shah, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, on Wednesday.

The alleged crime by a male attendant created a volatile situation in the town of Thane district on Tuesday, with protesting parents and locals crippling rail services and clashing with police.

Shah stressed the urgency of the matter, saying that the alleged sexual abuse of the two kindergarten students is a clear case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.

After learning about the incident, the state child rights panel chief said, she contacted the Thane District Child Protection Unit about the parents' concerns.

They (child protection unit) took them to the police to file the complaint. When I asked the school management about the case, they tried to cover it up. I even asked them why POCSO provisions should not be invoked against the school management, said Shah.

She said if the school management had promptly alerted the police, the chaotic situation in Badlapur could have been avoided. The issue arises from the parents being made to wait for 11 hours.

Despite being apprised of the alleged sexual attack, the principal chose not to contact the police . Instead, she went to the school management, Shah said, calling the episode a terrible state of affairs .

Every district in the state has a child protection unit under the Women and Child Development Department. There is also a Special Juvenile Protection Unit in every police station, she said.

All the systems, units, and committees are in place. We all must make collective efforts to make the system work effectively, she said.

Shah also said she would recommend a structured procedure for educational institutions to avoid such situations in the state in the future. The state should implement such procedures and implement them strictly, she said.

Referring to an earlier episode of alleged molestation of students of a Thane school by a bus attendant, Shah recalled that she had then stressed the need for mandatory police verification of teaching, non-teaching and contractual staff in educational institutes.

The alleged molestation had taken place on February 20 when students had gone to a mall in the Ghatkopar area of Mumbai on a private bus.

Court extends police custody of accused till Aug 26

A Thane court on Wednesday extended till August 26 the police custody of the man arrested for the alleged sexual assault.

The accused, who was employed as an attendant at the school where the incident took place last week, was produced before a magistrate at Kalyan in the district on Wednesday morning amid tight police security.

The court ordered the extension of his police custody till August 26, following which he was taken away by the police in a van, a senior official said.

The police had arrested the accused on August 17.

As per the complaint, he abused two kindergarten girls in the toilet of the school, the police have said.

MVA calls for Maharashtra bandh on Aug 24

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), meanwhile, has called for a 'Maharashtra bandh' on August 24 to protest against the incident.

MVA allies -- the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar headed by Sharad Pawar -- took the decision after a meeting here, said Vijay Wadettiwar, leader of opposition in the state assembly.

He said all MVA allies will participate in the bandh on August 24.

"We discussed the issue of women's security in the state and the failure of the BJP-led Mahayuti government on all fronts," he said.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad led a protest outside Mantralaya, the state secretariat, over the Badlapur incident. Wadettiwar and a few congress leaders were also present during the protest.

Holding placards outside the gates of Mantralaya, Congress leaders and workers shouted slogans against the government for the 'delay in the registration of the FIR'.

The protesters were stopped by the police from entering the premises.

Gaikwad and Wadettiwar slammed the state government for the 'rise in crimes against women in the state'.