India, Jan. 26 -- Days after a four-year-old was sexually assaulted by a school van driver in Badlapur, focus has shifted to a pending public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court that highlights a prolonged breakdown in Maharashtra's child protection oversight mechanism.

Filed on September 29, 2025 by Mumbai-based education rights activist Nitin Dalvi, the petition states that the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has remained non-functional since May 4, 2025 due to vacancies in key posts, including that of a chairperson.

The PIL contends that the commission has been "defunct and absolutely non-operational since 04.05.2025, thereby leaving no mechanism of redressal for complaints of aggrieved chil...