Cops to find if more kids were assaulted
RAPE IN SCHOOL Police record statement of fiveyearold girl who was raped inside her school in East Delhi, Delhi women’s panel issues notice to the school authorities
Two days after a fiveyear-old girl was sexually assaulted by a peon inside her school in east Delhi, police Monday asked the school owner and teachers to join investigation.
Police said they have also recorded the minor girl’s statement before a city magistrate, which is an admissible evidence. Police have already arrested the accused, Vikas Jaiswal, and are speaking to other students to check if he had assaulted others. Police sources said they are probing the allegations of the girl’s parents that the teachers and school principal did not take the matter seriously when they were informed by the child.
During investigation, police found that the school did not have CCTV cameras and, that on Saturday, when the incident took place, the school principal had called students for ‘special classes’.
The parents of the child had on Sunday told HT that the store room where the child was assaulted is the same room, where teachers threaten to lock student if they are mischievous. Following the incident, the girl’s father said that his daughter was scarred and feared going to school.
The girl’s parents told HT that they learnt of the incident when they saw their daughter was washing blood stains off her uniform after reaching home. The girl had also attended the class despite being sexually assaulted in the store room of her school.
The Delhi government is already conducting a magisterial probe, which will submit its report within 3 days. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “Prima facie from what I have been briefed from the magisterial inquiry, the accused was a rickshaw puller who used to work as a guard and also supplied tiffins.”
Sisodia also said why the girl was called for tuitions on a second Saturday when all schools including those affiliated to MCDs, like this school was, remain shut. “It needs to be found that why a girl of Class 1 was called for tuitions after school on a second Saturday – a day when all schools remain shut. Strict action will be taken against the school and another school that is run by the same owners,” he said.
The school principal had on Sunday told HT that though they had not conducted accused Jaiswal’s police verification, they had collected his Aadhar card and address proof. Delhi Commission for Women also took suo-moto cognizance of the case and said they have asked the school management to join inquiry.
In a press release, DCW chief Swati Maliwal said the DCW has asked school to provide details about the accused and how he was employed.
The DCW has also sought details asking the school management if they had conducted a police verification of the accused, steps taken to ensure that such an incident does not take place again.
The school management has been asked to send its reply in a sealed cover by Wednesday.
The girl’s parents had alleged that when the child was taken to Chacha Nehru Bal Chitiksalaya, a school teacher turned up and asked for permission to speak privately with the child. “The teacher then offered her chocolates in a bid to suppress the case,” the girl’s mother alleged.
The girl was admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital on Saturday night before being discharged on Sunday afternoon.