Badlapur sexual assault: accused school trustees arrested

Badlapur sexual assault: Thane Police arrest school trustees in Badlapur sexual assault case after Bombay High Court refuses bail.

Thane Police on Wednesday (October 2, 2024) arrested the two accused school trustees in the Badlapur sexual assault case, an official said.

A day before, the Bombay High Court had refused pre-arrest bail to the school chairman and secretary, and also come down heavily on police for failing to arrest them so far.

Officials of the Thane crime branch nabbed the duo from Karjat, the police official said, adding that they would be handed over to the special investigation team probing the alleged sexual assault of two kindergarten girls at the school at Badlapur in August.

The high court in its order on Tuesday noted that "prima facie there is material to show that the two accused were aware of the alleged incident before August 16, but they failed to take any steps to report the same to the police or local authority".

There is a legal obligation to report an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA) if a person is aware of it, or is made aware of it, the court said.

The main accused in the case, sweeper Akshay Shinde, was killed in an alleged shoot-out with police on September 23.