School chairman, secretary re-arrested after getting bail

Kalyan: In the Badlapur sexual assault case, the arrested school chairman, Uday Kotwal, and secretary, Tushar Apte, were produced in Kalyan's special POCSO court on Thursday. The court granted bail to the accused in one case. However, the Special Investigating Team (SIT) re-arrested both in the other case linked to a second student. Police had registered two separate cases of sexual abuse involving two girls.The SIT will now present them in court on Friday. The SIT, through public prosecutor Ashwini Bhamare Patil, demanded five days of police custody for both. She said despite being aware of the sexual assault of the minor girls, the chairman and secretary did not inform police. She also said the CCTV inside the school was switched off on the day of the incident; police want to interrogate the accused to know the reason. Patil also said they did not respond to summons sent by police.The accused's lawyer, Chandrakant Sonavane, told the court that that his client did not receive summons and that the section 21 (2) of the Pocso Act invoked was a bailable provision. Citing precedents in Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, he demanded bail. Judge P P Muley rejected demand for police custody.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.