Badlapur sexual assault case: A day after the Bombay High Court had refused pre-arrest bail to the school chairman and secretary, and also come down heavily on police for failing to arrest them so far, Thane Police on Wednesday arrested the two accused school trustees in the Badlapur sexual assault case, an official said.
Notably, the main accused in the case, sweeper Akshay Shinde, was killed in an alleged shoot-out with police on September 23.
According to a police official, the Thane crime branch arrested the duo from Karjat. The individuals will be handed over to the special investigation team (SIT) that is probing the alleged sexual assault of two kindergarten girls at a school in Badlapur, which took place in August.
Bombay HC slams cops over failure to arrest
Earlier on Tuesday, the Bombay High Court had refused pre-arrest bail to two accused school trustees and reprimanded the Special Investigation Team (SIT) handling the case, for its inability to apprehend them.
division bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan questioned how the police who typically make every effort to apprehend suspects have not managed to arrest these people. Subsequently, another judge of the high court rejected their anticipatory bail applications.
The high court in its order on Tuesday noted that "prima facie there is material to show that the two accused were aware of the alleged incident before August 16, but they failed to take any steps to report the same to the police or local authority".
There is a legal obligation to report an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA) if a person is aware of it, or is made aware of it, the court said.
Badlapur sexual assault case
Two girls - aged four and five - were sexually assaulted inside the washroom of a school in Badlapur town of Maharashtra's Thane district by a male attendant.
Akshay Shinde, 24, who worked as a contractual sweeper at a school in Badlapur town of Thane district was arrested on August 17 after massive outrage by the public over the allegations of sexual assault of two minor girls in school in a school toilet. He was killed by police in a shoot-out on September 23.
After he shot and injured an assistant inspector of police, another officer fired at him in retaliation, due to which he was badly wounded. He was declared dead at the Kalwa civil hospital, the police claimed.
(With PTI inputs)
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