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Over 70 people have been arrested and FIRs have been filed against 500 in just 24 hours over the protests in Maharashtra's Badlapur against the sexual abuse of two kindergarten students. The alacrity of the police in arresting the protesters pales in comparison to the action taken by the cops in registering the FIR, which apparently took 12 hours.
The opposition has gone hammer and tongs in attacking the Mahayuti-led government over the insensitivity of the police. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, which comprises the Congress, NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), have alleged that the parents of the girls were made to wait for 12 hours at Badlapur police station before taking their complaints.
The medical examination of the girls was also reportedly delayed by 10 hours, prompting fears of a cover-up by the administration. What has added to the outrage is the fact that the mother of one of the two girls was made to stay at the police station for over 10 hours despite being two-months pregnant, a report in The Indian Express said.
While the Maharashtra government has suspended three police officials for alleged dereliction of duty and handed the probe to a Special Investigation Team (SIT), it has done little to quell the outrage. The school management has suspended the principal, a class teacher and a female attendant.
The two girls, aged three and four, were sexually abused at a school in Maharashtra's Badlapur by a cleaning staffer between August 12-13. The accused, Akshay Shinde, was arrested by the police on August 17.
As per the FIR, police were informed about the incident on August 16. The FIR was allegedly filed 12 hours later -- around 9 pm on August 16.
The delay in filing the FIR has led to an outrage as in such cases circumstantial and medical evidence are crucial.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from Maharashtra over the "12-hour delay" in registering the FIR after the parents lodged a complaint.
The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights also said the school preferred to cover up the crime instead of helping the parents file a police complaint, PTI reported.
On Tuesday, thousands of people entered the Badlapur railway station and stopped local trains as they protested against the incident. Protesters also ransacked the school where two girls were sexually abused.
The police, who resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters, were pelted with stones. A dozen policemen, including senior officers, were injured. Internet services were also briefly snapped in Badlapur.
Questioning the delay in registering the FIR, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule sought to know why an inquiry was not launched to probe the police's inaction.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, while slamming the government, drew a comparison between the Maharashtra Police's reaction to the case and how the Kolkata Police swiftly arrested the accused in one day in the rape and murder case of a trainee doctor.
"RG Kar case had videographed autopsy and Kolkata Police arrested the accused within hours. In Maharashtra, police refused to file an FIR for days. This is the real non-democratic alliance," Mahua Moitra tweeted.
