Badlapur sexual assault case: HC raps Mah Govt for not forming child safety panel

 

 

 

THE Bombay High Court on Wednesday expressed its displeasure with the Maharashtra Government for not constituting a Child Safety Committee despite directions in the wake of the Badlapur school sexual assault incident. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan said the Government’s assurances do not match its actions. “This reflects on your (Government’s) bonafide. Your actions contradict your words,” the court said. The bench said the Child Safety Committee (CSC) was supposed to meet, discuss, and submit a report in eight weeks with recommendations on the safety and security of children in schools.

 

The High Court had last month taken suo motu cognisance of the alleged sexual assault of two minor girls inside the toilet of a school in Badlapur by a male attendant. The accused, Akshay Shinde, was killed in retaliatory firing in police custody on September 23. The bench had directed the formation of a committee comprising Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi (retired), retired IPS officer Meeran Borwankar, education professionals Sucheta Bhawalkar and Jaywanti Baban Sawant, psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, and Brian Seymour, President of ICSE and ISC preschools in Maharashtra and Goa and submission of a report by October 29.

 

None of the committee members was contacted by the Government to date, the court told public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar on Wednesday. “None of the committee members has heard from the State Government. You (Government) say one thing but your actions speak otherwise,” the court said. The bench questioned how the Government expects the committee to prepare and submit its report. “How do you expect the committee to function? The committee is not supposed to be only on paper. You agreed to everything we had said that day,” the court said. Venegaonkar informed the bench that he would take instructions from Advocate General Birendra Saraf and get back to the court. The bench is likely to take up the matter for a hearing on October 1.