Karjat: Two speech and hearing impaired girls were allegedly sexually assaulted at a boarding school in Karjat in Maharashtra. Following complaints, the two girls were taken for medical tests. Their medical reports have confirmed the assault.
Following the incident, medical tests were conducted on other students at the school too to ascertain if any other untoward incident had also taken place. The caretaker of the school, Ram Shankar Bembre, who has been accused of assaulting the girls, has been arrested in connection with the case.
The case was reportedly filed on March 30 after the mother of a student had levelled the allegations. The police have recorded statements of over 7 girls and will be speaking to more to probe the case. The police are taking the help of a sign language interpreter to help with the investigation.
Police have said that all the girls who have been quizzed have complained that they were sexually assaulted by the 44-year-old caretaker. The girls admitted that he had touched them inappropriately and tried to engage in actual sexual acts with some of them. The police are also investigating the background of the accused.
The school that has been shut as the probe is underway, is reportedly set to lose its recognition. Funded by the social justice department, the school had been granted government recognition in 2012.
The incident comes at a time when there is widespread uproar over the gangrapes of minors in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. Protests against the two cases are being held across the country. While a teen in Unnao had accused a BJP MLA and his associates of raping her in June 2017, in Kathua, an eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by six men who had held her in captivity in a small temple village for a week in January.
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