Mentally unstable girls raped and molested by caretaker in school

The peon of a special school in Trombay, who was looked up to as a care taker by the children, took advantage of two mentally unstable minor girls from the school around four months ago. The incident came to light on Friday when the victims narrated their ordeal to a counsellor from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) following which a complaint was lodged with the Trombay police.

The accused, who has been identified as Rajesh Tare, was working as peon with the Children and Society secondary School. Tare, a resident of Govandi, was arrested for raping one and molesting another minor girl in the toilet inside the school premises.

According to the Trombay police, the incident occurred around four months back. The two victims are aged 16 and 18 years.

Madhuri Ramekar, the complainant in the case, is counsellor of the Mentally Deficient Children (MDC). Ramekar had gone to the school on Friday for a counselling session during which the two girls broke down and told her about how Tare had raped one of them and molested the other. The two victims told Ramekar that Tare had taken advantage of them while taking them to the toilet and for drinking water on two different occasions.

After hearing the ordeal of the girls, Ramekar went to the chief executive officer of Children's Aid Society that runs the school, and told him about the incident. Subsequently, Ramekar went to the police and lodged a complaint against Tare.

According to the sources from the school, the incident occurred in the school where the mentally unstable students were sent for counselling. However, police said that the students are sent to the school under the surveillance of police officials, including women police personnel, as the children are mentally unstable. Police said that there are women peons in the school and how can such incidents can be committed in their presence? Police said that they have not ruled out the possibility of involvement of others from the school in the case. There are around 300 children mostly orphans who are send to a nearby school for studies and counselling.

Senior inspector, Vijay Kadam of Trombay police station said, "We have arrested Tare on charges of IPC and have also booked him under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. We are now trying to ascertain whether Tare has sexually abused any other girl from the school and whether anyone else was involved in the crime. Tare has been remanded to police custody. Further investigations into the case are on."