3 min readMumbaiAug 27, 2024 03:34 PM IST
First published on: Aug 26, 2024 at 02:01 PM IST
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Maharashtra Government to investigate the Badlapur child sexual abuse case asked a special Posco court for the identification parade of the 24-year-old janitor accused of sexually assaulting the two four-year-old girls in their school’s washroom.
A police team headed by an assistant commissioner of police-rank officer, who is the investigation officer of the case, produced the accused for the third time before the special Pocso court in Kalyan on Monday. The court sent the accused to 14 days of judicial custody.
The SIT on Monday informed the special court to deal with cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) about its request.
“The police informed the court that they are still trying to locate the accused person’s mobile phone, which is yet to be seized in the case. The police also submitted that the ID parade of the accused is conducted,” said Ashwini Patil-Bhambre, Public Prosecutor.
The court will take a final call on the ID parade of the accused in the Badlapur sexual abuse case.
ID parades are conducted inside prisons while an accused is in judicial custody. However, since the victims in this case are minors, the court will decide the place where the ID parade can be conducted, a source said.
The police also informed the court they have added sections 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 21 (failure to report or record a case) of the Pocso Act to the First Information Report (FIR).
The accused, who was a school janitor, allegedly sexually abused the two kindergarten students on August 12 and 13 in the washroom of their school in Badlapur under the Thane district. The crime came to light after one of the victims informed her parents. After medical examinations of the two girls confirmed the sexual abuse against them, an FIR was registered on August 16, leading to the arrest of the janitor on August 17.
The Maharashtra Government formed the SIT to probe the matter after protests started outside the school and at Badlapur Railway Station over the allegations that there was a delay in filing the FIR by the police.
Three police officers, including the former head of the Badlapur police station, have been suspended in connection with the matter.
Last week, the SIT, headed by Arti Singh, Inspector General of Police, also included names of the Badlapur school’s principal, teacher, and management for ‘not reporting’ the sexual assault of the two kids to the police as mandated under the Pocso Act.
Badlapur Sexual Abuse Case protest by Maharashtra Congress workers on Saturday.(Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekhar) 
Share
