The alleged sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls in Maharashtra’s Badlapur has sparked outrage with the accused, a staff member at the kindergarten where the incident took place, now behind bars. The man, identified as 24-year-old Akshay Shinde, was employed as an attendant in the well-known school that belongs to a close relative of a local BJP leader as per sources.
According to police, the accused abused the two girls in the toilet of the school. He was working as a cleaner on contract via a third-party company and was employed on August 1.
Akshay Shinde was arrested on August 17 after the girls’ parents pressed for a formal complaint despite an initial delay in filing the FIR. A local court on Wednesday (August 21) extended his police custody till August 26.
He was produced before a magistrate at Kalyan this 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.
After the incident triggered a massive ‘rail roko’ protest, subsequently leading to violence and vandalism, chief minister Eknath Shinde has stressed that schools should employ staff only after a thorough background check. Angry parents and local residents were demanding the death penalty for the accused.
Police further said the incident came to light when the girls’ parents questioned them after they refused to go to school on August 14. One of the girls told her grandfather that she was feeling a burning sensation near her private parts, and she also informed her parents that the same was happening to her friend. The alarmed parents called the parents of the other girl and on talking to them, it was found that they were being sexually abused.
Vishaka committees in schools
Amid outrage over the incident, Maharashtra school education minister Deepak Kesarkar said ‘Vishaka committees’ will be formed in schools, and there will be strict action if CCTV cameras installed on school premises are found to be non-functional.
“Vishaka committees will be formed at the school level,” he said, adding that they will provide a platform for raising grievances to girl students, especially those in classes IX and X as well as junior college.
He said there was already a government resolution mandating that schools should have CCTV cameras, but at this Badlapur school the CCTV cameras were not functional. A circular stating that schools will be accountable for this lapse will be issued, he added.
The minister further said a notice has already been issued to the Badlapur school, and its principal, a few teachers and two assistants have been suspended. The decision to install complaint boxes at schools was taken in the past, but principals must check these boxes regularly, he said.
A review meeting was held with education officials earlier this year to check if ‘Sakhi Savitri committees’ were formed in schools, and if the Badlapur institution had not formed such a committee, action will be taken, he added.
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