Badlapur sexual assault: Parents of accused say allegations are false

At least 25 policemen were injured in stone-pelting incidents at railway station and other areas of Badlapur during the protest | (Photo: PTI)

3 minutes reading Last updated: August 22, 2024 | 1:07 p.m. IST

Parents of the accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case on Thursday claimed their son was innocent and had been framed.

Speaking to a Marathi news channel, the parents said there was no truth in the allegations levelled against their son.

The accused, who worked as an attendant, was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two four-year-old students in a toilet of a school in Badlapur town in Thane district of Maharashtra. A local court on Wednesday sent him to judicial custody till August 26.

Our son had been doing this job for 15 days. He would go to school every day at 11 am to clean the toilets. He would then go elsewhere to do the same job, his mother said.

The mother said she learned on August 13 that such an incident had occurred at the school. Their son was arrested on August 17, she added.

A woman who works at the school narrated the incident to me and said that my son was taken to the police station (on August 17). I rushed there and saw policemen beating him up. They also beat my younger son, the mother said.

At the police station, officers told them about the crime he had committed, she said.

The mother of the arrested employee said that she and her husband also used to go to the Badlapur school every day to clean the premises. We used to go to the school at 5.30 pm every day for cleaning work and come out around 8.30 pm, she said.

The mother claimed that the accused had medical problems as a child and was mentally weak. But he was taking medication for that, she said.

People came to our house on Tuesday and beat all the family members and threw away our belongings, the accused’s father claimed.

Our house was vandalized by the people. They did not allow us to utter a single word. They just told us not to stay in the village because he (the accused) is our son, the father claimed.

Internet services in Badlapur were suspended on Wednesday, a day after a massive protest against the alleged sexual abuse of two kindergarten girls, and 72 people were arrested in connection with the violence during the riot, authorities said earlier.

At least 25 policemen were injured in stone-pelting incidents at the railway station and other areas of Badlapur during the protest as thousands of protesters blocked railway tracks at the station and stormed the school building on Tuesday.

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First published: August 22, 2024 | 1:07 p.m. IST