The massive protest in Maharashtra's Thane over the sexual assault of two four-year-old girls at a school, has been quelled by police batons and tear gas. The Badlapur railway station that was a seething mass of slogan-shouting people for over six hours, emptied in a matter of seconds and a huge police force cracked down. People – many of them sitting down on the railway tracks — started running as batons flashed. From the other side of the station, protesters responded with stones, till the station turned into a war zone. But the police prevailed, giving chase to the protesters as they ran helter skelter.
The outrage over the sexual assault has grown as more details emerged. Thousands of protesters had flocked to the local train station in Badlapur in the morning and blocked the movement of trains. Six hours on, the crowds grew, leading to concerns about train movement and law and order. The government's efforts to defuse the tension was answered by chants of 'hang, hang" from the crowd, who are demanding the death penalty for the 23-year-old cleaner allegedly involved.
What has further enraged the protesters is the Opposition claim that the parents of the girls were made to wait 11 hours at a local police station for a First Information Report. The three police personnel involved have been suspended by the government.
Coming in the backdrop of the rape-murder of a young doctor in Kolkata that has created furore in the medical community, the Thane protest had apparently drawn people from surrounding areas.
Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said the incident in Badlapur is "bigger" than the rape murder of Kolkata since the girls are just four years old.
"Atrocities are committed on a three-and-half years old girl, a four-year-old girl, and at the police station, they (parents) are made to wait for 11 hours when they seek to file a complaint… Is there any sensitivity left? I spoke to the police commissioner and told him that the woman police officer responsible for this delay must be suspended immediately," Mr Wadettiwar was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.
The two girls were sexually assaulted inside the girls' toilet at an English Medium school on August 16. The accused has been arrested. The school administration has suspended the principal and dismissed the class teacher and nanny.
Investigation revealed several lapses on part of the school – there were no female attendants in the girls' toilets, a basic safety requirement. Many of the school's CCTV cameras were not working either.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team, which will be led by a woman IPS officer. The police have also been asked to submit a proposal for a fast-track court to try the case.