Police to Probe on CCTV Footage of Badlapur School Case: Kesarkar

Mumbai: Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar on Monday said CCTV footage of 15 days of the Badlapur school, where two girls were sexually assaulted, triggering nationwide outrage, is missing and police have been told to probe the matter.

Two schoolgirls were sexually assaulted allegedly by an attendant, leading to a massive protest in Badlapur in Thane district on August 20, affecting suburban services for more than 10 hours.

Since then, allegations have surfaced against the police for the casual manner in which the case was treated, including making the parents of the victim wait for hours before registering a case.

"The school education department had sought a report over the incident. We found that the CCTV footage of 15 days is missing. We have told the police to investigate how it went missing. Since the crime was committed near the washroom, we sought CCTC footage and then the committee was told it had gone missing," Kesarkar told reporters.

The state government has given Rs 10 lakh and Rs 3 lakh to the parents of the victims and will also support their education till graduation, the school education minister said.

"There are two cases. One is of rape. The victim's parents have been given Rs 10 lakh. The other case is of sexual assault. Here the state government has given Rs 3 lakh," he informed.

He said the school education has submitted its inquiry report in the case to the state Home department for further probe and action.

Kesarkar said the school education department would provide a separate desk to deal with such cases.

A court in Thane district on Monday remanded the man arrested for allegedly sexually abusing two minor girls to 14-day judicial custody. He was arrested on August 17.

The Maharashtra government has formed a special investigation team (SIT) headed by senior IPS officer Arti Singh to probe the incident. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed.)