Rape case fallout: Maha govt appoints administrator for Badlapur school

Mumbai, Aug 21 (IANS) In a major crackdown, the Maharashtra government has appointed an Administrator to run the affairs of the educational institution from where the alleged rape of two nursery girls came to light last week, state Minister Deepak Kesarkar said here on Wednesday.

“We have taken charge of the school management and handed it over to an Administrator who will take charge either today or tomorrow,” Kesarkar told media persons after holding discussions with the institution’s governing board.

The tough measure came amid a massive uproar over the incident -- allegedly perpetrated by a contractual sweeper at the school, Akshay Shinde -- on August 12-13, and its potential political fallout over the upcoming state Assembly elections.

Kesarkar said that there will be no change in the functioning of the school and everything will proceed as usual under the Administrator.

The development came amid vociferous public protests, demonstrations and a political furore targeting the MahaYuti regime over the Badlapur horror and other cases of atrocities against women and girls in different parts of the state in recent times.

Further building up pressures, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has issued a call for a ‘Maharashtra Bandh’ (shutdown) on August 24, besides holding protests in different parts of the state on Wednesday to highlight what they termed as a total breakdown of law-and-order in the state.

Rattled by the angry political and public mood, the MahaYuti government has initiated a series of measures to quell the people’s ire, including the appointment of an Administrator for the school.

The Chief Minister, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, besides other senior MahaYuti leaders, have assured stringent punishment to the sole accused. The government named Ujjwal Nikam as the Special Public Prosecutor, ordered a SIT probe, suspended at least three police officials and took other decisions to mollify the people.

SS(UBT) leader Sushma Andhare demanded that the government bring out a ‘white paper’ detailing the law-and-order status in the state while National Spokesperson Kishore Tiwari demanded the resignation of MahaYuti regime of CM Shinde.