Mumbai, Aug 23 (Representative) Terming the alleged incident of molestation of two toddlers in a nursery school in Badlapur town of Thane district as ‘very outrageous’ and ‘blot on humanity’, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole on Thursday demanded the replacement of appointed Special Public Prosecutor and special investigation team (SIT) chief for a fair investigation into the case. He also demanded that the accused in Badlapur molestation case should be punished severely. He made this demand when he and the party’s women’s wing state president Sandhya Savvalakhe met the police officials of Badlapur police station in this regard. In a memorandum to police, Patole said that what happened in Badlapur was very outrageous and a blot on humanity. The treatment meted to the victim’s family at the police station was also very inhumane.
The fact that the police asked the victim’s family for evidence shows that there was pressure from someone in the government to save the school management, he alleged. Such a horrific incident on a three-year-old child should have been looked at seriously and sensitively and immediate action should have been taken, but this government is ‘insensitive’ and thick skinned, he claimed. He demanded that the accused should be prosecuted in a fast-track court and steps should be taken to impose a strict punishment at the earliest. Later, speaking to the media, Patole claimed that since the concerned school in Badlapur belonged to BJP’s Chetan Apte, it is clear that they are trying to save him. Also, the school principal who allegedly tried to suppress this case is a BJP leader, he further claimed. Now, the government has appointed Ujwal Nikam, a BJP candidate in the Lok Sabha election, as a special public prosecutor in this case, he pointed. In order to get justice to the victims’ families and for a fair probe into incident, the SIT chief and the special public prosecutor should be replaced by other impartial lawyers and police officers, he demanded.
He also claimed that BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde) have such a desire for power that when thousands of people spontaneously took to the streets, the ruling party MLA dared to call them mercenaries, while the former mayor of the ruling party spoke in abusive language with a female journalist, this is a desire for power, this is a dictatorial tendency, he charged. Shaken by this incident, thousands of citizens protested and some of them were arrested, he said. Hence, on August 24, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has called for ‘Maharashtra Bandh’, in which thousands of people will participate in it. “If the government has the guts, then put all of us in jail, let us see how many people the government puts in jail,” dared Patole.