Court denies anticipatory bail to two accused in Badlapur sexual assault case

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to the chairman and secretary of the Badlapur school, where two minor girls were sexually assaulted by a sweeper.
The bench of Justice RN Laddha noted that the offence was serious, and the court had to consider the plight of the minor survivors.
“The victims are minors. The trauma that they have endured can profoundly affect their adolescent years, leaving them with lasting psychological scars,” the bench said.
The court held that prima facie there was material to show that the two accused, chairman Uday Kotwal and school secretary Tushar Apate, were aware of the alleged incident before August 16, but they failed to take any steps to report the same to police or local authorities.
The prosecution case is that the two girls, aged three and four years, had been sexually assaulted by a school sweeper between August 12 and 13. The school administration was informed about the same on August 14. However, in spite of being informed, the chairman and the secretary did not inform the police, which is a crime under the POCSO Act.
Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar had argued that the accused might try to pressurise the survivors and many of the witnesses work in the school, thus their plea should be rejected.
Advocate Vikas Patil Shirgaonkar, appearing for Kotwal and Apate, submitted that the minor girls had attended the school on August 14 and 15 and had neither complained nor showed any signs of distress and he questioned if this incident had even taken place while alleging that there was a delay in the registration of FIR.
Advocate Kavisha Khanna, appearing for the survivors’ family, opposed these submissions and stated that the reason for the delay was because the local Badlapur police were in cohoot with the accused and not registering the FIR.
The bench held that the accused were responsible for managing the school. “There is prima facie material indicating that the survivors’ parents’ had voiced their grievances to the class teacher and other staff members. The applicants were aware of the incident before August 16. Despite having knowledge, they did not report the incident to police,” Justice Laddha said.
The bench said the delay in lodging of the case was “primarily because of applicants’ negligence for reasons known only to them.”
There is a legal obligation on persons to report the offence if they are aware or made aware of it, it added.
The court noted that the CCTV footage of the school premises from the day of the incident was missing. The bench referred to provisions of the POCSO Act and also judgments passed by the Supreme Court, which cast a duty and obligation on a person to promptly report to police any sexual assault offence once they are made aware of the same.
“This duty is not merely a procedure that can be overlooked. The repercussions or failure to report such offences are serious,” the bench said.
It noted that the courts must exercise caution while dealing with matters where schools or educational institutions have failed to report sexual offences against minors.