Mumbai, Aug 20 (IANS): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday directed the case, involving the abuse of two schoolgirls in Thane district's Badlapur, to be tried in the fast track court and warned that action would be taken against the school management if such incident occurred again.

Taking a strong note of the sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls by a sweeper in a reputed school in Thane district's Badlapur city, the CM discussed the case with the Thane Commissioner of Police. CM Shinde directed him to check whether or not the Sakhi Savitri Committee was formed in the Badlapur school and also other schools in the district.

CM Shinde discussed the case with School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar and asked him to take permanent concrete measures to prevent such incidents in future.

He suggested setting up a complaint box in every school for students or parents facing problems. Apart from this, he directed that it was necessary to closely monitor and keep track of the employees of the school who are in constant contact with the students, and get their backgrounds checked.

The CM said that there should be a system in place so that if the student has any doubts, they should be able to immediately point it out to the principal or teachers without fear.

He asked the management of schools to immediately take appropriate care and warned that action would be taken against them in the case of lapses.

CM Shinde appealed to the protesters, who were protesting at the Badlapur railway station, to remain calm.

Earlier, in the day, a large number of people hit the streets and also gathered at the railway tracks to protest against the sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls by a sweeper in the reputed school.

The protesters, including the agitated parents, were not satisfied with merely the suspension of the school principal, class teacher and two others, and a written apology from the school management.

Even though the school sweeper, who was involved in the sexual assault has been arrested, the protesters were insisting that the school management should come forward and tender an apology publicly and were also demanding strict punishment for the sweeper who was involved in the sexual abuse.

DCP Sudhakar Pathare said that the police had already registered the case and the accused had been arrested in three-and-half hours.

A local court has granted the police custody of the accused. The investigation has been launched with a team of police officers who are keeping a close eye on the collection of evidence to avoid any lapses in the ongoing probe.

“I appeal to the citizens of Badlapur to cooperate with the police as they are busy in the investigation of the case. The agitation or Badlapur bandh will disturb the ongoing probe. There is no permission for holding agitations or protests in the wake of prohibitory orders in place as per the Thane Police Commissioner’s directives in the commissionerate,” he added.

Notwithstanding the police directive, the residents are furious over the incident as initially, the school administration and the police tried to suppress the matter. When the parents of the victims went to the police station to file a complaint, they were detained by a woman police officer there for almost 12 hours.

However, after the uproar over the matter, the police swung into action. Senior Inspector Shubhada Shitole has been transferred to the Thane control room after it came to light that the police had allegedly manipulated the matter.

In its written apology, the school management said, “What happened is unfortunate, despicable and reprehensible. The school management wants strict punishment to be given to the concerned employee. We have cooperated with the police...These are critical times for the educational institution and what happened to these little girls is unfortunate and reprehensible. The responsibility of protecting the students in the school belongs to the school and after this incident, along with the immediate dismissal of the concerned employees, the contract of the private contractor through which this employee was working in the school on a contractual basis has been cancelled and blacklisted. Also, in this case, the headmistress who is responsible for checking the CCTV of the school, in which these little girls were studying, has been suspended. The class teacher and two supporting staff members responsible for taking the little girls to the restroom have been fired,” the school’s apology reads.