Mahua Moitra Criticizes Maharashtra Government Over Delay In FIR For Badlapur Child Assault Case

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra criticized the Maharashtra government for the delay in filing a First Information Report (FIR) in thesexual assault case involving two kindergarten students in Badlapur. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), she contrasted the Maharashtra Police's delayed response with the swift action of the Kolkata Police in the rape-murder case of a woman trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The Kolkata incident has sparked nationwide protests and calls for the resignation of Trinamool leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Moitra pointed out that while the Maharashtra Police took days to register an FIR in the Badlapur case, the Kolkata Police "arrested the accused within hours" after the RG Kar rape-murder.

"The RG Kar case had a videographed autopsy, and the Kolkata Police arrested the accused within hours. In Maharashtra, the police took days to file an FIR. This reflects the real non-democratic alliance," Mahua Moitra tweeted on Wednesday.

The sexual assault of the two young girls in Badlapur, allegedly by a cleaning staff member, led to widespread outrage. Protests in the region turned violent, with locals vandalizing the school and disrupting train services. The police eventually resorted to lathicharge to control the situation. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) announced it would send a team to Badlapur to investigate.

The incident reportedly occurred on August 13 and was discovered on August 16 when one of the girls refused to attend school and informed her parents of the assault. The accused was arrested on August 17, but the parents claimed that an FIR was only registered 12 hours after their initial complaint.

In the Kolkata rape-murder case, the accused, Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, was arrested a day after the victim's semi-naked body was found on August 9. The response from the hospital and the West Bengal government has been widely condemned, particularly the delay in registering the FIR and the initial attempt by the hospital to label the murder as a suicide. The Supreme Court recently criticized the Bengal government for its handling of the case and its failure to prevent vandalism at the RG Kar hospital.