The two accused were charged with Sections 2 and 4 of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act
After a day-long protest by parents and guardians on Friday, two teachers of a school in south Kolkata have been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a four-year-old child. The two accused were charged with Sections 2 and 4 of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act.
The father of the kindergarten student said that his daughter, after returning from school on Thursday, had been crying incessantly in pain and there was blood in her urine. "We took her to our family doctor. As soon as the doctor saw it she said she suspected a foul play, and advised us to take her to the police station and file a complaint," he said. He added that later they were informed that two school teachers had lured the child with chocolate, and took her to the toilet and assaulted her. "I am surprised that we spend lakhs of rupees to get our children admitted to a school like this," the father said adding that he would not send his daughter to that school again.
After filing a police complaint, she was taken to the state-run SSKM hospital where she was kept under treatment overnight. A four-member medical team conducted two medical tests on the child.
Since Friday morning, parents and guardians had put up a protest outside the school demanding action against the offenders. The parents alleged that school authorities were trying to hush up the affair.
The school Principal said, "I will say that security of our students is our top priority, and we will take adequate measures to ensure that. We will install CCTV cameras inside the school."
BJP and Youth Congress members put up a protest outside Jadavpur Police Station in the evening demanding immediate action.
State education minister Partha Chatterjee condemned the incident and said, "The accused would receive strictest punishment."
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that police had taken required steps against offenders.
Nabarun De, executive committee member of ICSE council said, "We condemn this strongly but I have heard that the incident had taken place at the Kindergarten section at an address which does not have an affiliation according to the records." He also said that by the end of this month the council would come out with a safety manual which all the schools would have to abide by.
Lawyer of the victim's father, Priyanka Tibrewal said that they would file a case against the school alleging negligence. "We will file a writ petition to cancel the licence of the school and would also make the council a party because it is not possible that they didn't know that a school was running without their affiliation," she said.
On November 3, 2014, a similar incident had happened at the same school when a six-year-old who was a participant in a cultural programme of the school was sexually assaulted by the driver and helper of a Volvo bus which was hired to ferry the students to the venue.
Parents had put up an agitation at the school demanding installation of CCTV cameras within the school campus but it has still not been done.
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 "Sexual Assault")
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