The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to respond to a plea filed by Balasaheb Rakshe, an education officer from Thane district, seeking a stay on his suspension following the alleged sexual abuse of two kindergarten girls at a school in Badlapur. Rakshe’s petition argues that his suspension was “politically motivated” and that he was made a “scapegoat” in the matter.
A division bench of Justices A.S. Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil instructed the state government to submit an affidavit by September 6, when the court will hear the plea. Rakshe, represented by advocate S.B. Talekar, requested the court to maintain the status quo until then, but the court deferred this decision to the next hearing.
Rakshe, who had earlier approached the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) for interim relief, was denied any such relief on August 26, prompting him to approach the high court. In his plea, Rakshe sought to prevent the state government from appointing any other officer to his post pending the final decision.
Talekar argued that there was no misconduct on Rakshe’s part and claimed that the suspension was an attempt by the government to deflect blame after the incident in Badlapur. According to the plea, Rakshe acted promptly upon learning of the sexual abuse incident on August 18 by contacting the Ambernath block education officer to conduct an inquiry and submit a report. The report was submitted on August 20, following which Rakshe issued a show-cause notice to the school’s president, secretary, and headmaster, questioning the lack of functional CCTV cameras on the premises.
The plea further stated that Rakshe forwarded the inquiry report to the director of education (primary) in Pune and the deputy director of education (primary) in Mumbai. On August 21, a committee of administrators was established to manage the school in Badlapur. Additionally, Rakshe instructed headmasters of all primary, secondary, and higher secondary schools to install CCTV cameras, set up complaint boxes, and form student safety committees.
Despite these actions, the Minister for School Education announced to the media that Rakshe, the education officer for Thane, had been suspended. The plea contended that the suspension was unwarranted as Rakshe was not directly responsible for the regulation and supervision of pre-primary centres.
