Bangalore 6-year-old rape: City residents take to streets in protest

Outraged parents are staging a protest against the rape of a six-year-old at the Vibgyor international school in Bangalore, a day after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah fell asleep during a debate on rape in the state assembly. Parents had laid siege to the school premises for three days running, after it turned out that the class one student had been raped inside the school premises. The involvement of two staff members has been suspected, although not confirmed. [caption id=“attachment_1625451” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image[/caption] The union education ministry has said it will examine the incident. Meanwhile Zee News reported that State Home Minister KJ George had on Friday said the accused would be arrested on Saturday as the police had conclusive leads in the case. According to the report: “After an hour-long meeting with top police officials in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, George added: “We will soon set up fast-track courts cross the state to try all rape cases expeditiously to convict and punish the guilty. We will also increase the number of women police force and provide additional vehicles to step up patrolling during beats”. According to a report in NDTV  meanwhile anger has grown after many schools in Bangalore have declared that they can’t be held responsible for the safety of students. They have asked parents to sign a form that the school’s staff or teachers can’t be held responsible for “damage to loss of property, sickness or injury from ‘whatever source’ legal entanglements, loss of life or money…” The Zee report said that protests continued in front of the posh school on Friday, as hundreds of Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists joined the parents and sought action against the management for failing to provide safety to students. The parents sought the arrest of the accused, as police only detained them for interrogation after the victim’s parents filed a complained against them. The school has remained shut since Thursday.