Uddhav Thackeray invokes Shakti Bill amid Badlapur protest over sexual assault: ‘… but our govt was toppled’

Mumbai News: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thhackeray on Tuesday invoked the Shakti Bill, as protests rocked Badlapur Railway station in Thane district. Hundreds of protesters blocked trains at the Badlapur Railway station, demonstrating against the sexual assault of two kids by a male attendant at their school. Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Thackeray said that the incident of Badlapur school should not happen ‘anywhere in the country’.

Uddhav Thackeray further remarked that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was about to pass the ‘Shakti Bill’, however, his government was ‘toppled’ by rebel and current chief minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde.

Thackeray further said, “It is the responsibility of those people who toppled our government and are now in power to pass the Shakti Bill and take the strictest action”.

What is the Shakti Bill ?

In 2023, the Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed the Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, positioning Maharashtra as the second Indian state, following Andhra Pradesh, to endorse the imposition of the death penalty for particularly grievous instances of rape and gangrape.

The Bill made changes to the laws on rape, gangrape, acid attacks, sexual harassment under the Indian Penal Code, provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act

Badlapur News: Kindergarten kids sexually assaulted

In a school in Badlapur, two girl students studying in kindergarten were sexually assaulted by the male attendant, last week. The children confined in their parenmts who then filed an FIR.

The Maharashtra Police has arrested the male attendant. The Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had directed police to invoke attempt to rape charges against him. Further three people have been suspended, including the Badlapur school principal.

Uddhav Thackeray, on Tuesday, claimed that the Badlapur school where the crime happened belong to ‘BJP'.

"I have come to know that the school in which this incident took place belongs to the people of BJP. But I do not want to do politics in this matter, so whoever is guilty, whether he is a BJP worker or someone else, strict action should be taken against him", Thackeray said.

Angry parents of the school children and local citizens, including many women, gathered outside the school on Tuesday morning and also held a 'rail roko' protest at the Badlapur railway station, blocking the path of suburban trains from around 8.30 am.

They demanded action against the school and strict punishment against the accused involved in the incident. Some of the protesters, including women, later broke the gate of the school and vandalised it by breaking the window panes, benches and doors, Maharashtra police said.