Badlapur sexual abuse case: Court extends police custody of accused sweeper until August 26

Badlapur sexual abuse case: A local court on Wednesday extended the police custody of the school sweeper arrested for allegedly sexually abusing two school girls at Badlapur in Maharashtra until August 26, reported PTI.

The Badlapur sexual assault case of two kindergarten girls has sparked widespread protests in Maharashtra. On Tuesday, thousands of protestors blocked train tracks at Badlapur railway station in Maharashtra's Thane district while agitating against the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old girls by the sweeper in the school's washroom. Subsequently, services of some local and long-distance trains were either suspended or diverted.

The protestors also slammed the Eknath Shinde-led state government for its recently launched Ladki Bahin Yojana scheme, which was rolled out on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

The agitators suggested that instead of rolling out ₹1,500 a month to women under the scheme, the authorities should work on ensuring their safety and security. Agitators also ransacked the school premises, where the two four-year-olds were allegedly assaulted last week by a male attendant in the girl's toilet.

The victims were students of a pre-primary class at a co-ed school in Badlapur and were reportedly sexually assaulted by the 23-year-old male sweeper on August 12-13. As per media reports, the toilet for girls in the school was not supervised by female staff. According to the school authorities, the sweeper was hired on a contract basis this month.

Protest politically motivated

On Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde alleged that the protest at Badlapur in Thane district was politically motivated.

He suggested that these protests aimed to malign the state government and added that the majority of protesters were outsiders. “The protest was politically motivated because the protesters were not local residents. The local residents who were part of the protest could be counted on fingers,” PTI quoted the Chief Minister.

Eknath Shinde charged at the opposition and said those doing politics over the incident should be ashamed, PTI reported. 

(With agency inputs)