Badlapur minor sexual assault: Bombay High Court slams police for lapses, calls for action against school

The Bombay High Court on Thursday slammed the Maharastra Police for lapses in investigating the case of sexual abuse of two 4-year-old girls at a school in Thane's Badlapur [High Court on its own motion v. State of Maharashtra]..The Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the matter on the basis of newspaper reports. A Division Bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan also flagged the lack of action against the school authorities for not reporting the crime."These girls have complained but several cases go unreported. It needs huge amount of courage to speak about all this. Definitely the Police hasn't played its role the way it ought to be. Had the police be sensitised, this wouldn't have happened," observed the Court.It also slammed the Badlapur Police for the delay in recording one of the victim's statements. "We are appalled by the fact that the Badlapur Police has taken no efforts to record the statement of the second victim girl with either under Section 161 and 164.".The Court also questioned the delay in registration of the case and observed that it discourages people from coming to the police."The first thing in such cases of minors is police must have registered FIR. But they made the family wait for hours. This discourages the public from reporting such incidents."Even as the State argued that the officers responsible for such lapses were suspended, the Court said,"People shouldn't lose faith in public. You should know what the motto of the Maharashtra Police is सद्रक्षणाय खलनिग्रहणाय (Sadarakshanaya Khalanigrahanay). It means to protect the good and restrain the wicked. Please be reminded of this...People should not come out on the streets like this for getting an FIR lodged".It added that the police force should be sensitised on how to handle cases involving sexual offences..Two kindergarten girl students were reportedly molested by a housekeeping personnel at a school in Badlapur last week. According to reports, the incident occurred on August 13 in the school restroom. The parents reported the incident to police on August 16. However, the First Information Report (FIR) was filed only 11 hours after their complaint. On August 17, the police arrested Akshay Shinde, a 23-year-old school attendant in the case. He has been sent to police custody by the local court till August 26.The incident has triggered outrage among the public with many protests taking place. .Advocate General Birendra Saraf told the Court that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the case."The accused has been arrested and everything will be done on a speedy basis," Saraf told the Court.The Bench enquired whether provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act have been complied with. It also perused the case diary and the copy of the FIR.Saraf told the Court the statements of the girls have been recorded and their medical examination has also been conducted..When the Court asked whether provisions of the POCSO Act had been invoked against the school authorities, AG Saraf said that action would be taken now. However, the Court observed that it should have been done at the earliest.The Court also stressed on the need to hold counselling for the girls and asked whether it had been done. Saraf sought time to inform the Court about it.The Bench also questioned why there was no mention of the second victim in the FIR, and why there was a delay in recording her statements.AG Saraf said he does not want to submit anything casually. "Let SIT take full review of everything and will apprise on Monday," he submitted..The Court then asked the State to take action against the school authorities for not reporting the crime. It also sought an explanation for the delay in recording the second victim's statement."How can the Police take it so slightly," the Court asked as it observed that even the statement of a victim's father was recorded only today after the High Court initiated the suo motu case.The court has now asked for case files and other documents to be presented before it. The matter will be heard next on Tuesday.