Badlapur sexual assault: Suspect’s parents say he was ‘mentally weak’, has been framed

The parents of the accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case have alleged that their son is innocent and has been implicated in the crime.

Speaking to a Marathi news channel on Thursday (August 22), the parents said there is no truth in the allegations against their son.

The accused, who worked as an attendant, was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting two four-year-old girl students inside the toilet of a school in Badlapur town in Maharashtra’s Thane district. A local court on Wednesday sent him to police custody till August 26.

Cops beat up our younger son too, says mother

“Our son had been doing the job for the past 15 days. He used to go to the school by 11 am daily to clean the bathroom. He would then proceed to another place for similar work,” his mother claimed.

The mother said they learnt on August 13 that such an incident had happened in the school. Their son was detained on August 17, she said.

“A woman working with the school told me about the incident and about my son being taken to the police chowki on August 17. I rushed there and saw police thrashing him. They also beat my younger son,” said the mother.

At the police station, officials told them about the crime committed by him, she claimed.

‘Our son was mentally weak, took medication for it’

The arrested attendant’s mother said she and her husband also used to go to the Badlapur school every day to clean the premises. “We used to go to the school at 5.30 pm daily for the cleaning work and come out around 8.30 pm,” she said.

She said the accused had some medical issues in his childhood and was mentally weak. But he has taken medicines for that, she said.

“Some people came to our house on Tuesday and beat up all the family members and threw out our belongings,” claimed the father of the accused.

“Our house was vandalised by the people. They did not allow us to utter a single word. They just told us not to stay in the village as he (accused) is our son,” the father claimed.

Unrest in Badlapur

Internet services in Badlapur were suspended on Wednesday (August 21), a day after massive protests broke out against the sexual assault on the two girls. At least 72 persons had been arrested in connection with the violence during the stir.

At least 25 police personnel were injured in the incidents of stone-pelting at the railway station and other parts of Badlapur during the protest as thousands of protesters blocked railway tracks at the station and stormed the school building on Tuesday.

(With inputs from agencies)