Father of Badlapur case accused moves HC seeking burial spot

Mumbai: The father of the accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case, who was killed in an alleged police shootout earlier this week, on Friday moved the Bombay High Court seeking a burial spot for his son.

The father’s advocate mentioned the application before a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and M M Sathaye seeking urgent intervention.

The court said it would hear the plea in the afternoon.

In his application, the father has sought the court’s direction to the local civic body to arrange a spot to bury his son Akshay Shinde.

Shinde, 24, was arrested of last month for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls at a school in Badlapur town, Thane district.

Earlier this week, he was being escorted to Badlapur from Taloja jail in connection with a case registered against him on a complaint by his second wife when the alleged shootout occurred, resulting in his death.

The incident took place near the Mumbra Bypass in Thane on Monday evening after Shinde allegedly snatched the gun of a policeman. He was killed in retaliatory firing by the police.

Shinde’s father had filed a petition in the high court claiming that his son was killed in a fake encounter and sought an HC-monitored probe into his death.

On Wednesday, the bench headed by Justice Dere had raised several questions over the incident. Emphasising the need for a fair and impartial probe, it noted that the incident could have been avoided.

On Thursday, the family claimed that Shinde had in the past expressed his desire to be buried instead of cremated. Shinde’s body has been kept at the mortuary of a civic hospital in Thane’s Kalwa area.

According to Shinde’s family, finding a burial site for him was proving challenging as local residents and organisations have voiced opposition.

Earlier in the day, while speaking to a Marathi news channel, the counsel for the Shinde family Amit Katarnavre said that the Constitution provides certain rights for bodies, and they will approach the HC to seek protection for those rights.