After stinging observations made by the Bombay High Court and fierce criticism by the Opposition Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA), the BJP-led MahaYuti government has set up a Commission of Inquiry into the “encounter killing” of Akshay Shinde, the prime accused in the Badlapur nursery school children sexual assault case.
Justice Dilip Bhosale (Retd), former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, has been appointed as head of the judicial inquiry – set up under section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 to look into the circumstances leading to the alleged encounter death of Shinde on September 23.
The Inquiry Commission has been asked to submit its report to the Maharashtra government within three months from the date of its appointment.
Akshay Shinde -- key accused in the sensational Badlapur child sexual assault --was shot dead at a point blank range while he was being taken from Badlapur to Thane in a van for investigation in another case.
As per the terms of the reference given to it, the Inquiry Commission will probe the sequence of events leading to the death of Shinde that took place at Mumbra Bypass, Thane on September 23 leading to the exchange of fire between accused and the police team that was escorting him to Thane on September 23 . It will fix responsibility for the incident.
The Commission will look into whether the steps taken by the police in handling the aforesaid situation were appropriate and suggest short term and long term measures to be taken by the Police in order to avoid reoccurrence of such incident.
Narrating the incident, the notification issued by the Home department said: “…an incident occurred at Mumbra Bypass, Thane on 23rd September 2024, wherein there was an exchange of fire between one accused person named Akshay Shinde, and the accompanying police escort arty, resulting into injuries to both, the accused and one police officer.
The accused Shri Akshay Shinde was taken to the hospital for treatment where he was declared dead on arrival…”.
At hearing held on September 25, a HC bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan had questioned the version put out by the police Shinde was shot by the police in self defence. Justice Chavan said “it is hard to believe” that a man of slight build as Akshay Shinde could be overpowered by the four policemen when he turned violent and pulled the slide back on a 9 mm pistol for firing which “requires strength”.
It may be recalled that two nursery girls – aged four and six years -- were sexually abused allegedly by sweeper Shinde when they in the washroom of the kindergarten school run by Adarsh Vidya Prasarak Sanstha (AVPS) on August 13 for using the toilet there.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Thane police that investigated the case has filed a charge-sheet in the case before the special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court in Kalyan.
The incident caused a major public uproar in the state and always as other parts of the state. The Opposition MVA – comprising Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) – had demanded a judicial probe into the suspicious circumstances leading to the accused Shinde’ s death in a police can.
At a hearing held on October 1, the Bombay High Court pulled up the Maharashtra Police SIT for its failure to arrest two trustees of the Badlapur school where two minor girls were allegedly raped in August – with the prime accused Akshay A. Shinde was shot dead in a police encounter on September 23.
A division bench comprising Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Prithviraj Chavan was hearing a suo-motu PIL into the alleged sexual assault on the two nursery girls, aged 3 and 5 years at the Badlapur-based nursery school.
In a related development, a single-judge bench of Justice Rajesh Laddha rejected the anticipatory bail applications of the school trust’s Chairman and Secretary who are on the run since the incident and after the Trust was superseded as per the state government orders.
“Considering that the (2) victims are minors, the trauma they have endured will have profound impact on their adolescent years, leaving long lasting and irreparable psychological scars.
The applicants (Trustees) hold important positions in the school… There are chances that they may tamper with the evidence and pressurize the witnesses who are employees of the school,” Justice Laddha said while rejecting the anticipatory bail applications made by the Chairman and the secretary.
