Mumbai: The origin of Tuesday's rail roko agitation in Badlapur over the sexual assault of two minor schoolgirls remains shrouded in mystery. The police are baffled how a parents' dharna outside the school metamorphosed into a public protest involving at least 5,000 people sitting on the railway tracks. Railway property was also vandalised.
The school protesters say their intention was only to gather outside the institute during the bandh called in the city. They did not understand when the plan to halt local trains was made. In an impromptu move, people started talking about stopping trains to have their voices heard by the central govt.
After this, the crowds swelled upon the tracks as the school agitators joined the sit-in. A high-ranking police official said the unhelpful attitude of school authorities and the police station, where the parents were made to wait for 11 hours before an FIR was registered, had fuelled the outrage. Eventually, following the intervention of the zonal DCP, the accused was arrested.
The school principal, a teacher and a female attendant were also sacked and a woman inspector, Shubhada Shitole, shunted for stalling the FIR. By then a women's organisation had announced a protest outside the school. Some local activists and unions also called for a bandh.
Sangeeta Chienvenkar, who was part of the group at the school and is booked in the case, said: "We planned to hold a peaceful bandh and agitate outside the school since they were negligent in hand.