When will this end? Now 3-year-old raped inside school in Bangalore

Bangalore: In the third such incident in the past four months, a three-year-old girl student was allegedly sexually abused inside a private school in Bangalore on Tuesday, police said.

“A three-year-old girl studying in nursery class was allegedly sexually abused here,” Joint Commissioner (Crime) Hemant Nimbalkar told PTI late Tuesday night.

Addressing parents outside the school premises this morning, the principal said: We will put all our resources and efforts to get the perpetrators of the crime. The police has examined each area of school campus and have provided all records for investigation. We went through all the CCTV recordings, we are sure there was no outsider entry into the school.

Earlier this morning, parents of children who attend the school, gathered outside its premises demanding that the administration steps out and address what went wrong and why children cannot be protected inside a school complex.

A criminal case has been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 and IPC section 376 (rape) on a complaint from the father of the child, he said.

Former NCW Chief Mamta Sharma today said that the government must arrange sensitisation programs via NGOs in schools and colleges and also for the police force.

Activist Geeta Menon, speaking to Times Now, suggested that all schools should set-up a sexual harassment board immediately and labour laws, too, should be modified to address these concerns.

This is the third incident of a minor girl student being allegedly sexually assaulted on school campus in the city.

According to the complaint, the girl was crying when her mother picked her from the school in Jalahalli and was not behaving normal and had symptoms of fever.

While the girl initially told her mother that someone beat her up, she later said she was sexually abused, he said.

City Police Commissioner M N Reddy visited the school and ordered ACP (Malleshwaram) Sarah Fatima to investigate the matter, he said.

CCTV footage from the school was being examined and the staff members were being questioned, Nimbalkar said.

An eight year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by her 63-year-old teacher inside her school premises over a period of time, with the offence coming to fore in early August, barely a month after the “gangrape” of a six-year-old girl at Vibgyor High School in the city evoked public outrage.

The Vibgyor school incident saw public erupt in anger on the streets leading to police issuing stringent guidelines to schools to ensure safety of children and the government amending the Goondas Act to bring sexual offences under its ambit.

PTI with additional inputs