Badlapur sexual assault: Police lathi-charge protesters at railway station

Protestors demand execution of the arrested accused/ PTI

Protestors demonstrating over Badlapur sexual assault were lathi-charged by police on Tuesday evening to break up the day-long rail roko agitation. Two girls aged three and four were allegedly sexually abused by an attendant at a kindergarten in Badlapur; the accused was arrested on August 17.

PTI reported that the police used force to disperse hundreds of protestors around 6 pm, hours after they hurled stones at the railway station rejecting pleas from the state government and senior police officers to call off the demonstration which affected the suburban train services and forced diversion of some outstation trains.

As the demonstrators agitated over the Badlapur sexual assault continued on the tracks throughout the day, local train services in the Mumbai Metropolitan Zone were disrupted for several hours. According to reports, the marchers demanded the execution penalty for the arrested suspected of sexual assault in Badlapur.

According to a PTI report, a police official stated that "the tracks at Badlpaur station were finally cleared of demonstrators after 6 pm."

Following the protests against the Badlapur sexual assault, police and RPF men were stationed in huge numbers at the train station and the school, which had been vandalised earlier in the day.

Angry parents of the schoolchildren and locals, including numerous women, had gathered outside the school on Tuesday morning and later staged a 'rail roko' protest blocking the passage of the local trains beginning from 8.30 am.

The police, per the PTI report, stated that a handful of demonstrators, including women, damaged the school's property by vandalising the gate, window glass, seats and doors. During the agitation, some demonstrators hurled stones at the railway stations as well.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone IV, Sudhakar Pathare told the media that a case was filed against the accused arrested within three and a half hours of registering the FIR. The DCP added that three police officials, including two women, are gathering all evidence.

Pathare, in a statement regarding the protest over Badlapur sexual assault, urged the residents to avoid taking to the streets to protest since such actions could hinder the probe.

The DCP said that the police are committed to resolving the Badlapur sexual assault case and he added that any type of agitation or bandh may impede the probe's progress given prohibitory orders are in place.

When questioned about the reports of a 12-hour delay, the DCP said that the registration happened at 11:30 pm, and the accused was apprehended at 3:30 am.

Pathare claimed that the complexity of gathering information from young survivors aged 3 and 4 led to the time required for case registration.