Badlapur news: Massive protest over sexual abuse of Thane school girls: What we know so far

Massive protests erupted over a sexual abuse incident at Thane school. Two girls studying in the kindergarten at a school in Badlapur in the Thane district of Maharashtra. The police arrested the attendant at the school in connection with the incident. According to the complaint, he abused the girls in the toilet of the school.

The incident reportedly happened last week. The parents came to know about the incident on August 18 and filed an FIR. According to news agency PTI, the girls had told their parents that the attendant touched them inappropriately, following which a complaint was lodged and a case was registered against him. The accused was later arrested, police said.

Here's all that we know so far about the sexual abuse case in Thane school.

1. Hundreds of parents of the children studying in the school at Badlapur have been staging a 'rail roko' protest at Badlapur railway station since Tuesday morning to condemn the incident of sexual abuse and to demand strict action against the accused.

2. A protest was held at Badlapur Railway Station on Tuesday. Local trains were stopped and agitators blocked the tracks after an alleged sexual assault with two minor girls in a school in Badlapur last week.

CPRO Central Railway said, "Local trains stopped at Badlapur railway station where protesters agitated against the alleged sexual assault incident with two minor girls at a school in Badlapur.".

3. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde appealed to the parents to exercise restraint as the rail blockade was hampering the functioning of local trains.

4. Heavy security deployed to control the crowd protesting against the alleged sexual assault incident with a girl child at a school in Badlapur.

5. Amid the mass protests, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said he has directed the police that the accused arrested for sexually abusing two girl students be booked under the attempt to rape charge.

"I have spoken to the Thane Commissioner of Police. The accused has been arrested. I have asked the case to be fast-tracked and book the accused under the charges of attempt to rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act," he was quoted by news agency PTI as saying. The Thane Police Commissioner also ordered to submit a proposal on Tuesday to take the case to a fast-track court, ANI reported.

6. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Inspector General of Police level senior IPS officer Arti Singh to investigate the incident that took place in Badlapur.

7. Thane district's guardian minister Shamburaj Desai said, "Two probes will be conducted - one by the education department and second by the zonal deputy commissioner of police to ascertain as to why there was a delay in registering the offence as alleged by the parents."

8. School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar said a police official was transferred because no cognisance was taken for 12 hours after the parents lodged the complaint with the police. "A notice has also been served to the school, and its principal and a class teacher have been suspended," he was quoted by PTI as saying. "He said he has ordered setting up of Vishaka committees in the schools," Kesarkar said.

9. Opposition leader Priyanka Chaturvedi urged the President Draupadi Murmu "to approve the Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law".

10. The management of the school at Badlapur in Maharashtra's Thane district suspended its principal and two staffers in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of two girl.