महाराष्ट्र के स्कूल में दो लड़कियों के साथ यौन उत्पीड़न मामले में पुलिस ने आरोपी की गोली मार कर की हत्या

Police shoot dead accused in Maharashtra school sexual assault case

A man accused of sexually assaulting two girls at a school in Maharashtra's Badlapur town died in retaliatory firing by police after he snatched a policeman's gun and opened fire, an official said on Monday. Akshay Shinde, who worked as a sweeper at the school, snatched the revolver of one of the policemen escorting him from Taloja jail to Badlapur on Monday, the official said. He was rushed to a hospital in Kalwa where he succumbed, the official said. An assistant police inspector injured in the firing by Shinde is undergoing treatment at the hospital, he said. When the vehicle reached near Mumbra bypass, Shinde snatched the revolver of an officer travelling in the vehicle and fired two to three rounds, injuring the officer.

In retaliation, another officer opened fire at Shinde, injuring him. The school had hired 23-year-old Shinde on a contract basis to clean its toilets on August 1. Two minors were allegedly molested in the school toilet on August 12. The accused was arrested on August 17. On September 3, the Bombay High Court asked the police to make a “solid” case and not file a chargesheet in haste under public pressure. The Bombay High Court, which took over the case, had sharply criticised the police investigation, particularly pointing to deviations from the norms in questioning children. “The Badlapur police have not followed the order of law,” the judges had said. “They tried to record the statement of the victim girl at the police station.

The order was not fully followed. Asking the victim and her parents to come to the police station for recording the statement is totally insensitive and against the law,” they said. The school too came under criticism, with the court questioning its procedure of checking recruiters and allowing male sweepers and attendants into the girls' toilets. Opposition leaders expressed surprise at the "encounter" and demanded a detailed probe into the incident. Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan claimed the "encounter" was staged to save "some others".

Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said, "This is shocking. There should be a judicial probe into the incident." Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole wondered if the "encounter" was staged to save the school's trustees who have not been arrested yet. Akshay's uncle told a Marathi TV channel that he met Akshay in Taloja jail on Monday and was told that the police were beating him regularly.