The Maharashtra government has found itself at a crossroads on whether to comply with the Bombay High Court’s order to register a complaint against five police officers under the scanner in the custodial death of Akshay Shinde, a key accused in the Badlapur school sexual assault case, or appeal against the order in the Supreme Court.

On January 20, the division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale, after reviewing the findings of the magistrate inquiry report in connection to Shinde’s custodial death, directed the state government to lodge a complaint against the policemen concerned. However, ten days after the order, police are yet to act. Asked about the delay in following the court’s directions and the government's plans for implementing the same, Yogesh Kadam, the state’s minister of state for home, stated, “We might have to appeal in the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court order.”