The Maharashtra government has referred three police officers, including a senior police inspector, to police lines for negligence in the sexual abuse of two girls in a Badlapur school. This decision was taken after several hundred parents and community members protested the event, several even tying up railway traffic in the process.
Through official social media profiles, Devendra Fadnavis, the Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister, has publicly identified and declared immediate suspensions in response to public anger. The Eknath Shinde government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the particulars of the affair and asked the Thane Police Commissioner to speed up the probe in a fast-track court.
The opposition has expressed its concern over such a situation – the parents of the victims were kept for 11 hours in the Badlapur police station, and their complaints were recorded only afterward. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar has expressed anger over the insensitivity of the authorities in the matter; he has asked for the suspension of the police officer responsible for the treatment of the woman.
The main accused, who has been named as a cleaner at the school, has been arrested. The violation was discovered when one of the girls complained of discomfort, and after examination of the girls’ vaginas, the perpetrators were proved right. The state witnessed an effervescence of anger, captivated at large by Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, demanding urgent changes to protect women and children.
