Badlapur sexual assault case: Internet services in Maharashtra's Badlapur, located in Thane district, were suspended on Wednesday, following a massive protest over the alleged sexual abuse of two kindergarten girls. The unrest has led to the arrest of 72 individuals connected to the violence, according to officials. The protest, which erupted on Tuesday, resulted in injuries to at least 17 city police officers and approximately eight railway police personnel due to stone-pelting incidents at the railway station and various other parts of the town. In response to the violence, a large number of police personnel have been deployed across Badlapur to restore and maintain law and order.
On Tuesday, Badlapur witnessed a near-total shutdown as thousands of protesters blocked railway tracks at the station and stormed the school building where the alleged sexual abuse by a school sweeper occurred last week. Authorities have since reported that the situation in the town has returned to normal. The protesters hurled stones at police personnel and vandalised the school building during the protest. The police cane-charged the protesters to disperse them and clear the tracks for train movement. Talking to the media, DCP Sudhakar Pathare said that internet services in the town have been suspended in the wake of the protest and subsequent violence.
"The internet services will be restored after taking a review of the situation in the town," he said.
Badlapur sexual assault case
Earlier on August 17, Police arrested an attendant at the school for sexually abusing two girl students of the kindergarten. As per the complaint, he abused the girls in the toilet of the school. In the wake of the incident, the school management has suspended the principal, a class teacher and a female attendant. The state government on Tuesday ordered the suspension of three police officials, including a senior police inspector, for alleged dereliction of duty in probing the sexual abuse of the two girls.
'Rail roko' protest in Badlapur
Angry parents of the school children and local citizens, including several women, gathered outside the school on Tuesday morning and also resorted to a 'rail roko' protest at the railway station, blocking the path of local trains from around 8.30 am. Some of the protesters, including women, later damaged the school property by breaking its gate, window panes, benches and doors. The school where the incident happened belongs to a close relative of a BJP leader from Badlapur, sources said, as per news agency PTI.
