india

Updated: Sep 15, 2017 17:48 IST

A six-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped inside the premises of a government school in Rajasthan’s Barmer, police said on Friday.

Police said they filed a complaint on the basis of the victim’s father’s statement, which said the girl – a student of Class 2 – was tied to a table in a room near the school toilet and gangraped on Thursday. Two people, both sweepers of the school, have been detained.

Anita Rani, in-charge of the women’s police station in Barmer, said an FIR had been filed under section 376(D), 376-2(I) of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-child sexual abuse act. The victim is in hospital and is stable, doctors said.

“Doctors have not found any external or internal injuries on the girl in the medical examination. But we have sent her vaginal swab for forensic examination,” said superintendent of police Gagandeep Singla.

“We have asked a deputy SP to investigate the case.”

The incident came to light after the victim complained of pain in her private parts to her parents, who rushed her to a local hospital. Doctors there suspected sexual assault and informed the police.

Superintendent of police Gagandeep Singla and district collector Shivprasad Nakate inspected the school premises and questioned the authorities.

Safety of children in Indian schools is under focus following the murder of an eight-year-old boy inside Gurgaon’s Ryan International School. The boy was found outside a school toilet on the ground floor, crawling and bleeding profusely before he died. A conductor of a school bus has been arrested in the case and the Supreme Court has asked state governments to formulate guidelines for school safety.

Data from the Rajasthan home department shows in the last three years, 56 cases of alleged sexual violence against girls by teachers in schools have been registered. It also indicates that of the 55 teachers who have been accused, none has been convicted and five have been acquitted. At present, 36 such cases are pending in courts. The data also showed 16 such cases remained inconclusive after the final reports were submitted by the police.