Buldhana: Trouble mounts as 12-year-old student files new sex assault case

Buldhana: Another sexual assault case in Buldhana district of Maharashtra has been reported just a week after Police arrested 11 people in connection with raping minor girls. Amid the ongoing probe of assaults on girls in a tribal residential school in the district, a third case has been filed against accused, Ittusingh Pawar after a 12-year-old student claimed Pawar tried to force himself on her. The previous ones have been registered for rape but this case has been filed for sexual harassment.

The girl was reported saying that she had informed teachers and others at the ashramshala, but they were silent. The investigative agency however, has decided to take action against administrative staffers and other employees for not informing police about the incident. Taking serious cognizance of the incidents, the Maharashtra government derecognized the Kokare Ashram School in Buldana’s Hivarkheda town. After the school was derecognized, Tribal Welfare Minister Vijay Savra said the 400 boy and girl students studying in the school would be accommodated to other neighbouring schools.

16 other people have been named in the cases along with the main accused Pawar. As per reports, 15 of them have been arrested. A dozen of students from the ashramshala at Pala village in Khamgaon tehsil of Buldhana gave their statements to SIT to find about Pawar’s sexual assaults on students. During the investigation, another case surfaced.

As per reports by TOI, the investigation team did not club the latest charges with the past cases and decided to register a third FIR to ensure maximum punishment for Pawar. The ashramshala has been derecognised and members have been booked for forgeries. As per Buldhana police, the probe team has also discovered forgeries by the ashramshala managemen and has come across bogus names of students enrolled in classes VIII to XII.