Badlapur child sexual assault: Charge sheet has startling details

Women protest outside the Badlapur police station following the sexual assault case, on August 21. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has filed a charge sheet in connection with the sexual assault case of minor children in Badlapur, has provided startling details about the incident. The charge sheet includes the accused's confession, made before doctors, that he had sexually assaulted the minor girls and ejaculated on them. The SIT has filed two separate charge sheets, each totalling 500 pages, having 20 witnesses, and both include statements from the victims' families and the victims themselves that were recorded before the magistrate. The minor girls have also identified the accused, Akshay Shinde.

According to the charge sheet, the SIT recorded the statement of the doctor who documented the accused's medical history during his medical examination, and the accused admitted to the sexual assault and described what he had done to the victims. To strengthen their case, the SIT has taken all medical papers on record and also the statement of the doctor is part of the charge sheet.

The SIT, led by Inspector General (IG) Aarti Singh, filed the charge sheet in less than a month. The SIT faced challenges due to the absence of CCTV footage inside the school. However, they discovered a municipal CCTV camera outside the school gate that captured the accused entering and exiting on the day of the incidents, providing key evidence. While the lack of internal footage limited their understanding of the sequence of events, the SIT recorded statements from the minor girls, who described what happened and identified the accused, Shinde.

According to sources, the SIT discovered that the accused was not officially recorded as a sweeper by the school management and had joined just 10 days before the incident. "A contractor hired by the school sent Shinde to work as a sweeper, so we have recorded the contractor's statement to establish his connection with the school," a police official said.

The police have also registered a separate case against Shinde for unnatural sex, based on complaints from his ex-wife. Both incidents of sexual assault on the minor girls occurred in August. Due to delays in filing the FIR, massive protests erupted in Badlapur, blocking local trains for a day. This prompted the state government to establish a Special Investigation Team.

The case

The incident occurred on August 12 and 13, with the first FIR registered on August 16. leading to the arrest of the accused. In response, the state government formed a SIT. The high court also took note of the situation and criticised the local police for the delay in filing the FIR. A second FIR was registered only after HC's intervention. The SIT then booked the school secretary and principal for failing to report the incident to the police as mandated under the POCSO Act. The SIT chief informed the court of this development during the hearing. The principal was granted bail since the charges against him were bailable. The school secretary, however, remains absconding in the case.