Internet services suspended in Badlapur, 72 arrested for violence during protest

THANE: A day after a massive protest was held over alleged sexual abuse of two girls, internet services at Badlapur in Maharashtra’s Thane district were suspended on Wednesday.

As many as 72 persons have been arrested in connection with the violence during the protest, according to officials.

At least 17 city police personnel and eight railway cops were injured in the incidents of stone-pelting at the railway station and other parts of Badlapur during the protest on Tuesday, officials said.

Police have been deployed in large numbers across Badlapur to maintain law and order, and the situation in the town is back to normal.

The Maharashtra education department on Wednesday asked all schools in the state to install CCTV cameras within a month,while the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has called for a “Maharashtra bandh” on August 24 to protest. The Kalyan Bar Association has appealed to all its members not to accept the brief of the accused arrested in the case.

Meanwhile, a local court on Wednesday extended till August 26 the police custody of the man arrested for allegedly sexually abusing the two girls. The police had arrested the accused on August 17.

The entire Badlapur town virtually came to a standstill on Tuesday after thousands of protesters blocked railway tracks at the station and stormed the school building, where the sexual abuse of two girls by the school sweeper took place last week. 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.

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. Most schools in the town remained shut on Wednesday.

“We have registered three FIRs on charges of violation of prohibitory orders, armed unlawful assembly, assault, damage to public property, among others against the miscreants,” police said.

Commissioner of Government Railway Police (GRP) Ravindra Shisve said one FIR has been registered in connection with the violence at Badlapur railway station and 32 persons have been arrested.

“The situation is normal and under control today,” he said.

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.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said he has ordered the formation of a special investigation team headed by senior IPS officer Arti Singh, while Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said action will be taken against the school. He said the case will be fast-tracked and the guilty won’t be spared.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde decried the protests that rocked Badlapur on Tuesday as being ‘politically motivated’. Shinde said that generally, locals are involved in the protest but in this case, people came from outside.Senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut claimed that the police was allegedly pressured to not file an FIR in the case. He also questioned the Supreme Court for not taking cognisance of the incident.

Parents of the children claimed that they were forced to wait for around 12 hours before the police filed an FIR.