Bombay HC asks cops to reopen school rape case

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Meghwadi to reopen the probe into the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl at an Andheri international school and file a report on the action taken by them, in court. The court also directed deputy commissioner of police to monitor the probe. Earlier, the court had rapped MIDC police station of Andheri for doing “nothing” in the case. 

The court had said that it seems the police is shielding the accused. 

Division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi was hearing the petition filed by the mother, whose three-year-old daughter was repeatedly raped by the school staff. The petitioner alleged that the police was not probing the case properly and that the case should be transferred to some other agency.  

After the mother of the victim has lodged the complaint in May this year, the police had recorded statements of accused persons, who had denied all the charges. Further, the police had conducted a polygraph test of the accused and had refrained from arresting them on the grounds that the accused had cleared the test. 

The court had expressed displeasure over the probe and asked why they haven’t arrested the accused when there are prima facie evidence of rape and sexual abuse. The court said that it seems that police are trying to shield the accused because no arrest has been made yet despite the registration of FIR six months ago. “Do you know how serious this case is? Prima facie it shows that you are trying to shield the accused,” the bench said.