Badlapur sexual abuse case ’bigger than’ Kolkata doctor rape case: Congress’ Vijay Wadettiwar alleges police lapses

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly Vijay Wadettiwar on Tuesday said the sexual abuse of two young girls in Maharashtra's Badlapur is “bigger than” the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar College and Hospital in Kolkata.

"Maharashtra has left UP [Uttar Pradesh] behind in crime against women. The law and order has collapsed in the state. Allegations were levelled against the West Bengal government after an assault on doctor... this incident in Maharashtra is bigger than that. No one will support such incident (Kolkata). The accused should be hanged. Take hearings daily, no other thing is important," the Congress leader said in the video message.

'Badlapur victim's family made to wait for 11 hours'

He also alleged the family of a girl who was sexually abused at a school in Maharashtra's Badlapur were made to wait for 11 hours to file their complaint.

"A senior woman police official kept the victim's family waiting for 11 hours before filing FIR as the school was associated with those in power today," Wadettiwar said in a video message posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.

"This police officer is fully responsible," Wadettiwar added. He also demanded to suspend the woman police officer for "neglecting this matter".

Wadettiwar added that atrocities were committed against a three-and-half-year-old girl and a four-year-old girl, and at the police station, they (parents) were made to wait for 11 hours when they sought 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," he added.

"The trial of the case should be completed within three months and the accused should be hanged," the leader of opposition demanded.

Taking a swipe at the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government's much-advertised Ladki Bahin scheme for women, he asked why the chief minister and deputy chief ministers were silent about the present case.

What are Badlapur and Kolkata cases?

Two kindergarten girls at a school in Badlapur in Maharashtra's Thane district were allegedly assaulted by an attendant of the school last week. As per the complaint, he abused the girls in the toilet of the school, an official told news agency PTI.

The school management suspended the principal, a class teacher, and a woman attendant, over the incident. The state government on Tuesday ordered the suspension of three police officials, including a senior police inspector, for alleged dereliction of duty in probing the sexual abuse of the two girls.

Meanwhile, in West Bengal's Kolkata, the rape and murder of a trainee doctor sparked widespread outrage and protests across various cities, with calls for justice and punishment for the accused. On August 9, 2024, a 31-year-old postgraduate doctor at RG Kar Medical College Hospital in Kolkata, who was on a 36-hour duty shift, was allegedly raped and murdered inside the seminar room of the hospital.