A team from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) will conduct an inquiry into the alleged sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls by a male staffer at their school in Badlapur, Maharashtra. Priyank Kanoongo, NCPCR Chairperson, announced the investigation on Tuesday, claiming that the school authorities attempted to suppress the case and that the local police station failed to register an FIR promptly.
Kanoongo criticized the school’s handling of the situation as “insensitive” and expressed support for the Maharashtra government’s decision to remove certain police officers from the case. He also welcomed the appointment of a special public prosecutor and the decision to fast-track the legal proceedings, as announced by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Protests erupted in Badlapur, with thousands blocking railway tracks at the town’s station, disrupting services on the Kalyan-Karjat section of the Central Railway. Demonstrators are demanding severe punishment for Akshay Shinde, a 23-year-old cleaning staff member accused in the case, who began working at the school on August 1.
The incident has sparked nationwide attention, coinciding with ongoing protests over the rape-murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata earlier this month.