Internet suspended, schools shut in Badlapur after protest on sexual abuse

In the wake of a massive protest at Badlapur in Maharashtra's Thane district over the alleged sexual abuse of two kindergarten girls, internet services in the town were suspended while most schools remained shut on Wednesday, officials said.

At least 17 city police personnel and around eight railway cops were injured in the incidents of stone-pelting at the railway station and other parts of Badlapur during the protest on Tuesday and the investigators have arrested 72 persons in connection with the violence, they said.

According to officials, additional police force has been deployed in the town to maintain law and order, and the situation in the town is limping back to normalcy. Entire Badlapur town virtually came to a standstill on Tuesday after thousands of protesters blocked railway tracks at the station and stormed a local school building after the alleged sexual abuse of two girls by the school sweeper in the washroom last week.

The protesters hurled stones at police personnel and vandalised the school building over the sexual abuse incident. The police cane-charged the protesters to disperse them and clear the tracks for train movement.

Talking to PTI, DCP Sudhakar Pathare said on Wednesday that internet services in the town have been suspended in the wake of the protest and subsequent violence.

"The internet services will be restored after taking a review of the situation in the town," he said.

Most schools in the town remained shut on Wednesday, local people said.

"At least 17 city police personnel, including two officers, were injured as an angry mob attacked them with stones during the protest in Badlapur on Tuesday over the sexual abuse of two girls. We have registered three FIRs on charges of violation of prohibitory orders, armed unlawful assembly, assault, damage to public property, among others against the miscreants," a senior police official in Badlapur said.

The injured police personnel are being treated at different local hospitals, he said.

"A total of 40 persons have been arrested so far in connection with stone-pelting and other crimes. Attempts to identify other offenders are on. CCTVs footages and video news clippings are being examined," he added.

Commissioner of Government Railway Police (GRP) Ravindra Shisve said one FIR has been registered in connection with the violence at Badlapur railway station and 32 persons have been arrested.

"Seven to eight railway police personnel, including officials, were injured in the stone-pelting," he said.

"The situation is normal and under control today," he said. Police on August 17 arrested an attendant at the school for sexually abusing the two girl students of the kindergarten. As per the complaint, he abused the girls in the toilet of the school.

In the wake of the incident, the school management has suspended the principal, a class teacher and a female attendant. The state government on Tuesday ordered the suspension of three police officials, including a senior police inspector, for alleged dereliction of duty in probing the sexual abuse of the two girls. Angry parents of the school children and local citizens, including several women, gathered outside the school on Tuesday morning and also resorted to a 'rail roko' protest at the railway station, blocking the path of local trains from around 8.30 am. Some of the protesters, including women, later damaged the school property by breaking its gate, window panes, benches and doors.

The school where the incident happened belongs to a close relative of a BJP leader from Badlapur, sources said.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said he has ordered the formation of a special investigation team headed by senior IPS officer Arti Singh, while Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said action will be taken against the school. He said the case will be fast-tracked and the guilty won't be spared. Talking to a news channel, senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, who has been appointed as the special public prosecutor in the sexual abuse case, condemned the inordinate delay by the police in lodging an FIR in the case. "This is a sensitive case. It is shameful why the police officers did not not take up the matter seriously. Why the senior police officials ignored the complaint will definitely be probed and those found guilty will be punished. The most important thing is that during such cases, if the police delay in taking cognisance, then crucial evidence is lost," he said. Opposition parties have targeted the Mahayuti government over the issue.