Bangalore, Oct 31: In the second such instance in less than 10 days, a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped on Tuesday and Wednesday by a Hindi teacher on the campus of her private school in east Bangalore.
The 37-year-old faculty member, identified as Jaishankar , was picked up for questioning on Thursday. He is believed to have raped her in the boys' toilet. The second rape was committed around 3.30pm.
The mother, a housekeeping employee at a private firm, was shocked and didn't know how to react. She sent the girl to school on Thursday. At the woman's office, her colleagues saw her crying. When they asked her, she told them about the incident.
The colleagues tried to call the child helpline, but there was no response even after several calls. They finally managed to contact the Child Welfare Committee. The colleagues also got in touch with an NGO worker they know. The worker took the child to a government hospital.
Only a gynecologist and a pediatrician were on duty at the hospital. The doctors reportedly told the girl's mother that such a case required medical examination by a forensic expert. By then, CWC members had approached the jurisdictional Jeevan Bima Nagar police.
The girl's father, a cab driver, and mother took the girl to the police station around 3.30pm. The child identified the teacher by name. Based on this information, police detained the teacher. Around 9.40pm, police went to the school for investigation. The family was shocked as the accused had given tuitions to the girl's mother.
Additional commissioner of police (law & order) Alok Kumar said: "The girl told her mother she was abused on October 28 and 29. We're questioning the Hindi teacher based on initial investigation." Police sources said the girl was taken to Bowring Hospital and subjected to medical tests late on Thursday night.
Jeevan Bima Nagar police booked a case under Section 376 of IPC and Sections 5 and 16 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
"I came to know about the incident around 8.30pm. It's a reputable school; it's shocking such an incident has happened there. I visited the school and was told a suspect had been detained," said SM Ramesh, block education officer, Bangalore South 1.
The school, affiliated to the state board, figures in the list of authorized schools published on the website of the department of public instruction. Police sources said there was only one CCTV camera on the campus. A complaint has been filed against the school for not complying with safety guidelines issued by police.
The latest in the series of child rapes on school campuses has come even as the Karnataka high court is hearing a case on objections from schools to police measures to implement child safety guidelines.
City police had proposed the guidelines in the wake of the July 2 gang rape of a 6-year-old girl on her east Bangalore school campus. The outrage sparked massive protests by parents and citizens.
Several school managements took objections to the guidelines, saying many of them would drain their resources. The guidelines included installation of CCTV cameras on campus, GPS on schoolbuses and verification of antecedents of school staffers.
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