The head of the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR), Susieben Shah, has sharply criticized the handling of a sexual abuse case involving a school in Badlapur. Shah alleges that the school administration tried to cover up the crime instead of helping the victims’ families report it to the police.
The case involves two four-year-old girls who were allegedly assaulted by Akshay Shinde, a 23-year-old cleaner at the school. According to reports, the assaults occurred on separate days within ten days of Shinde’s employment, but the school failed to act on the complaints.
Shah revealed that when the child protection unit attempted to file a complaint with the police, the school management was more focused on covering up the incident. “When I questioned the school about the case, they tried to conceal the truth. I even asked them why they weren’t applying POCSO provisions against the school management,” Shah said.
The school was first notified of the assaults on August 12 but did not alert the police. Instead, they dismissed the parents’ concerns, suggesting the assaults might have been caused by an outsider. The parents were reportedly left waiting for 11 hours at the Badlapur police station before their complaints were addressed.
Outraged by the delays and lack of action, the parents and local residents protested, blocking railway tracks at Badlapur station and disrupting the central railway network for several hours.
Shah expressed frustration over the school’s handling of the situation, stating, “If the school had notified the police immediately, the chaos in Badlapur could have been avoided. The problem stemmed from the parents being forced to wait for 11 hours.”
She criticized the principal for not contacting the police directly and instead involving the school management, describing the situation as a “terrible state of affairs.”
In response to the alleged abuse, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has called for a statewide bandh on August 24. Vijay Wadettiwar, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, announced that all MVA allies will join the protest to demand justice for the victims.
