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

“Build a watertight” case, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the police team investigating the sexual assault of two girls at a school in Badlapur in Maharashtra, while reminding them not to rush into filing a chargesheet under public pressure.

A bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan also stressed 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, echoing the government's slogan.

Last month, the Bombay HC bench took cognizance of the incident in which two girls, aged around four, were sexually abused by a male warden in the school toilet.

The defendant was arrested.

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

The court observed that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been formed to investigate the case as the local police had failed to investigate properly. It said, “There were strong protests from the common people” and therefore the team should take time to investigate the facts thoroughly.

“This is a bigger issue. This case will set a precedent for all future cases of this kind. The public is watching and the message we are sending is important,” the court said.

“Therefore, you should not rush to file the charges. There is still time. Do not let public pressure get you down. The investigation must be carried out thoroughly before the charges are filed,” the judges said.

Before filing the chargesheet, the court asks the SIT to make sure everything is in order. “Make a watertight case.”

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

“Is this the way a case diary is kept? Is it a procedure where the investigating officer keeps a case diary in a stereotypical manner?”

Every step of the investigation must be recorded in the case diary, the judges said, but noted 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 the investigation is being conducted in terms of detail. We do not see any concrete steps.”

They pointed out that this way of writing a case diary defeats its purpose and rather reflects the sloppy investigation of the case.

Meanwhile, Advocate General Saraf informed the Supreme Court that the government had set up a committee to look into the safety of girls in schools.

The court said it should also look into the safety of boys. “The committee will look into the safety of children in schools. We will keep it gender neutral. Not just girls, boys too. Just because it's a boy doesn't mean nothing unpleasant will happen.”

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