Sexual abuse of kids: Maha Police baton charge, disperse protesters from Badlapur rly tracks

Badlapur (Maharashtra): Police on Tuesday resorted to lathi charge and dispersed thousands of protesters from the Badlapur railway station in Maharashtra after over 12 hours of a rail roko agitation.

The people had come out spontaneously to vent their anger at the alleged rape of two nursery girls at a school run by the Adarsh Vidya Prasarak Sanstha last week.

They were demanding action against the prime culprit, arrested accused Akshay Shinde, who used to work as a contract sweeper there but was arrested after the alleged sexual assault on the two four-year-old girls.

The crowds, estimated to be more than 25,000, had gathered inside and outside the railway station, on the roads leading to the station and the vicinity of the AVPS school premises and refused to budge from there despite repeated pleas by the Thane Police and the Central Railway authorities.

The suburban train services, which were paralysed due to the stir by the local residents, are expected to resume shortly after the police cleared the area.

Some protesters pelted stones on the police personnel who were engaged in dispersing them from the railway tracks.

A few police personnel were injured in stone pelting though the police sources said that the situation is under control.

The police had made repeated calls urging the protesters to withdraw their agitation but they stuck to their strand and the police finally resorted to lathi charge.

As the crowds finally left, at least seven people were detained for attacking the police teams, and many others including some women sustained mild injuries in the caning, while a few private vehicles were damaged in the stone-pelting.

The Rural Development Minister Girish Mahajan had also intervened to pacify the protesters but they did not respond.

The protesters were adamant that the accused be hanged immediately.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) will send a team to Thane to investigate the matter.

The NCPCR questioned the delay in registering the FIR by the police and vowed to ensure accountability.

NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanungo said, "The school's attitude in this case was insensitive. They tried to suppress the case. The concerned police station did not register an FIR in due time... Action should be taken against school administration or those responsible for not registering the FIR and suppressing the case."

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, Uddhav Thackeray condemned the incident and said, “Strict action must be taken and such cases cannot afford to disappear in the long pending process of justice. I came to know that the Badlapur school where the incident took place belongs to some BJP party worker. However, I do not intend to bring politics in it.”

The Central Railways said that the agitation resulted in the cancellation of over two dozen suburban services on the affected section and diversion of several long-distance incoming and outgoing services, and many long-distance trains were diverted through the Karjat-Panvel-Bhiwandi section.

Among the trains that were diverted included: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus-Bhubaneshwar Konark Express, CSMT-Hyderabad Express and its return service, Shri Ganganagar-Tiruchirapalli Express, Udaipur-Mysore Express, Chennai-CSMT Express, CSMT-MAS Express and its return service, Pune-Nizamuddin Duronto Express, Barmer-Yeshwantpur Express, Solapur-CSMT Vande Bharat Express, and Coimbatore-LTT, said the CR.