Badlapur Sexual Assault: Mahayuti celebrates ‘divine justice’, MVA continues to question police version
Opposition parties also questioned why the trustees of the school, which they claimed were linked to the BJP and the RSS, were still at large
Mumbai: The political reactions to the killing of Akshay Shinde, arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minors at a Badlapur school, in a police encounter on Monday, continued across the spectrum on Tuesday.
The Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party celebrated the killing, calling it natural and divine justice, by bursting crackers and distributing sweets. Opposition parties, meanwhile, continued to try and pick holes in the police’s version of the story and questioned why the trustees of the school, which they claimed were linked to the BJP and the RSS, were still at large.
After the encounter on Monday evening, chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had both justified the police’s action, saying they had acted in “self-defence” after he allegedly fired three rounds at them. Opposition leaders had criticised the police’s action and demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
There was more of the same on Tuesday. In Badlapur and other places in Maharashtra, Mahayuti leaders and party workers celebrated the “natural justice” and “divine justice” for the accused. Ruling party workers, especially from the BJP, even ran a social media hashtag: #DevKaNyay (god’s justice).
After visiting the two police officers involved in the encounter who were admitted to the Jupiter Hospital in Thane, Shiv Sena MLA Naresh Mhaske said that the Opposition is criticising the police without realising the real picture. He added that it’s unfortunate that people are doubting the bravery of the police.
“The Opposition was demanding Akshay Shinde to be hanged. Why are they having double standards now?” he said. “The police protect people and it is their job also to protect themselves. Akshay Shinde has been given punishment by nature. God has punished Akshay Shinde for what he did,” he added.
Shiv Sena functionary Waman Mhatre distributed pedas in Badlapur, even as the police organised a bandobast at the school where the sexual assaults allegedly took place to prevent any untoward incident. Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said that the Opposition leaders’ comments reflect their shamelessness. “Will they commemorate his death just as they did for Afzal Guru,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray alleged that the Mahayuti government was trying to protect the trustees of the Badlapur school. “Where are the trustees of the Badlapur school? Why are they being protected by the state government? What about chief minister Eknath Shinde’s local chap, Waman Mhatre, who asked a journalist why she was reporting about the [Badlapur sexual assault] incident as if she herself had been raped. Why is he being protected?” he said. Mhatre had refuted the allegations made by the journalist.
Thackeray also demanded that cases filed against citizens who had protested against the Badlapur sexual assaults and police apathy last month be withdrawn. “They were treated like gangsters. They simply were protesting against the refusal of the police to file a complaint from the victim for a week. Who was the police station protecting? It is understood that the trustees of the school have an affiliation with the BJP. And they are being protected. Is it true? Will the regime answer?” he said.