Badlapur Sexual Abuse Case Live Updates: MVA calls for Maharashtra bandh on Aug 24; accused’s police custody extended by 5 days

Supporters of Shiv Sena UBT shout slogans during a demonstration to protest against the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old school children by a cleaning staff member at Badlapur, at Lalbaug in Mumbai on 21 August 2024. Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee.

Badlapur Sexual Abuse Case Live Updates: The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) called for a “Maharashtra bandh” on August 24 to protest against the alleged sexual assault on two young girls at a school in Badlapur of Thane district. MVA allies – Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) headed by Sharad Pawar – took the decision after a meeting here, said Vijay Wadettiwar, leader of opposition in the state assembly.

Meanwhile, a local court extended till August 26 the police custody of the man arrested for allegedly sexually abusing two girls at a school in Badlapur. The accused, who was employed as an attendant at the school where the incident took place last week, was produced before a magistrate at Kalyan in the district this morning amid tight police security. The police had arrested the accused on August 17.

Protests continued in Mumbai and Pune, a day after outrage over the incident resulted in a ‘rail roko’ protest and vandalism of the concerned school. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde called Tuesday’s demonstrations ‘politically motivated’, wherein protesters blocked rail tracks at Badlapur railway station.