Badlapur sexual assault: SIT declares 2 trustees of school absconding

The Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the sexual assault on two four-year-olds inside their school in Maharashtra's Badlapur has declared two trustees of the school absconding on Friday, police said.

The crime branch and cyber police team have been searching for both the Trustees after the SIT registered a case of negligence against the duo and called them to record their statements.

Police officials said that the duo are not cooperating with the police in the investigation. Also, when a police team went to the house of both the trustee's they were not found at their homes.

Earlier, SIT announced that it would conduct the identification parade of the accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case. The identification parade will be conducted in the presence of the Executive Magistrate, where the victims will be identifying the accused.

After the identification of the accused, SIT will prepare a psychological profile of the accused, which would help in further investigation of the case.

Earlier, Bombay High Court said on August 27, that boys need to be educated about gender equality from a young age and there is a need to bring change in their mindset.

The court made the remarks during a hearing on the Badlapur sexual assault case. The court had taken suo motu cognizance of the alleged sexual assault of two girls at a school in Badlapur.

A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan said male dominance and chauvinism continue in society and there is a need to teach boys about right and wrong behaviour from a young age.

The Court suggested constituting a committee to study the issue and recommend rules and guidelines to be followed in schools to prevent such incidents.

On August 23, the special investigation team (SIT) for Badlapur sexual assault against minors registered an FIR against the school authorities, for not complying with the provisions of Section 19 of the POCSO Act, which mandates that every authority, when they come to know about any such kind of sexual assault against minors, are obligated to report this to police authorities for further action.

Under the leadership of the deputy director of the Mumbai region, the investigation team has been probing the Badlapur incident. People from various departments are involved in the investigation.