‘Public is watching…’: Bombay High Court tells police not to act under pressure in Badlapur sexual abuse case

Build a "watertight" case, the Bombay High Court told the police team probing the sexual assault of two girls at a school at Badlapur in Maharashtra on Tuesday, while also reminding them not to file a charge sheet hurriedly under public pressure.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan also highlighted that boys should be sensitised.

“Education of boys is important. ‘Bete ko padhao beti ko bachao (educate the boy and save the girl)’,” Justice Dere said, tweaking the government slogan.

Last month, the Bombay HC bench took suo motu cognisance of the incident where two girls of around four years of age were sexually assaulted inside the washroom of the school by a male attendant.

The accused has been arrested.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf, appearing for the government, told the court during Tuesday's hearing that a chargesheet would be filed shortly.

Noting that a special investigation team (SIT) was formed for the investigation of the case because the local police did not probe it properly, the bench said, “there was a strong outburst of the common man”, and therefore, the team should take its time to investigate the facts properly.

"This is a larger issue. This case will set a precedent for all such cases in future. Public is watching and what message we are giving is important," the court said.

“Therefore, don't file the chargesheet hurriedly. There is still time. Don't go by public pressure. Investigation has to be done properly before chargesheet is filed,” the judges said.

Before the chargesheet is filed, the bench asked the SIT to ensure everything is in order. “Make a watertight case.”

They also rapped the SIT on the knuckles for the “stereotypical” manner in which the case diary was maintained.

“Is this a manner in which case diary is maintained? Is it a modus operandi to write case diary in stereotypical manner by the investigating officer?”

Every step of the probe has to be mentioned in the case diary, the judges said, noting that details were not mentioned in the diary.

“The efforts are not reflected.... Stereotypical words are used in the case diary. We are not satisfied with the way investigation is conducted with regard to the detailing. We do not see any concrete steps.”

They noted that the purpose of writing a case diary is defeated when it is written in this way, and it actually reflects the shoddy probe of this case.

Advocate general Saraf, meanwhile, informed the HC that the government has formed a committee to look into the aspect of safety and security of girls in schools.

The court said it should examine the safety of boys too. “The committee will look into safety and security of children in schools. We will keep it gender-neutral. Not just girls, boys too. Just because it is a boy, it is not that nothing untoward will happen.”

Retired IPS officer Meeran Borwankar, and a retired high court judge -- either Sadhana Jadhav or Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi -- should be included in the committee, the HC suggested before adjourning the hearing to October 1.