Express News Service By

BANGALORE: Hundreds of concerned parents on Wednesday stormed a prominent school in Marathahalli where a six-year-old child was allegedly sexually assaulted.

Parents of children studying in Vibgyor High, a school affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, demanded answers from the school on their children’s safety after it came to light that a Class 1 girl was molested allegedly by some of the school’s staff.

“We don’t have anything to say in this matter. The school has provided all the details to the police,” said Basavaraju, a member of the school management. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pranab Mohanty as well as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Abhishek Goel visited the school during the protest.

According to officials at Varthur police station, where the case has been registered, the girl’s description matches that of the physical instructor and a security guard. They, however, maintained that interrogation of the staff was still under progress and “no arrests had been made yet”.

The girl was sent for medical examination on Wednesday and the Forensic Science Laboratory report is awaited, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order- East) K V Sharat Chandra.

“For parents, especially of girl children, this incident has caused extreme concern,” said a parent of a girl studying in Class 3.

“Apart from ensuring that the perpetrators of this crime are booked, our major concern is how our kids will be safe going forward.”

Over 300 parents had gathered at the school on Wednesday morning and demanded to see Rustom Kerawalla, the founder-chairperson of the Vibgyor High chain of schools. The management has convened a meeting with parents on Thursday and the school will remain closed.

Parents have come up with a list of suggestions to make the school safer for their children, which includes thorough background checks of employees. “It is a very straightforward incident that happened inside the main building of the school,” the parent added.

Bangalore South-4 Block Education Officer S M Ramesh visited the school during the protest and submitted a report to the Commissioner for Public Instruction. “It took place on July 2 and a complaint was lodged July 14. The school says that it came to know about it only when the police visited them. I have verified attendance records that show that the girl attended classes after the alleged crime,” Ramesh told Express.

He said it is not clear whether it happened inside the school.

“Police have confiscated the surveillance. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) can initiate action against the school, but we have to wait until after the police investigation.”

There are seven other branches of Vibgyor High in the city, in Haralur Road, Electronics City, Horamavu, B T M Layout, Kadugodi, Jakkur and Bannerghatta Road. According to the DPI school database, there are 1,249 children from Classes 1-10 in the Marathahalli branch of whom 597 are girls.

Recent Crimes Against Women

June 6, 2014: Shivarama Reddy (28) allegedly raped an engineer from Jharkhand at her PG accommodation in Electronics City.

Status: He is in jail and is said to have confessed to 33 other cases of molestation and assault on women.

April 19, 2014: A security guard sexually abused a seven-year-old girl in Marathahalli. Raju (28), from Assam, took her out of a building on the pretext of buying her chocolates.

Today: Chargesheet was filed last week. Raju is in judicial custody.

April 10, 2014: A 26-year-old woman living alone was sexually harassed by Mallikarjun in Sadashivnagar. He gained entry into her apartment saying the switch board had to be fixed. He tried to rape her, but ran when she began screaming.

Today: Chargesheet was filed a week ago. Mallikarjun is out on bail.

December 26, 2013: A 26-year-old woman working in a multinational company was attacked by two men at the railway foot overbridge near Coles Park.

Today: Three men were held. Police recovered two stolen bikes, one of which was used in the crime.

Nov 6, 2013: A 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped repeatedly by Ashwin Tabrekar, a software engineer from Hulimavu. She was his wife’s niece. Tabrekar was arrested.

Today: The family compromised and withdrew the case. All of them went back to Kolkata two months ago.

women’s safety a concern for city

Bangalore is safe compared to other big cities. This seems to be an isolated incident as people move around freely even late in the night, Especially on weekends. - Rupesh, private firm employee

This is shocking and scary. Having lived in Bangalore all my life, I thought this was the most friendly and safest city. After this incident, one can’t feel safe.

- Pallavi Shivakumar, student

“I think Bangalore is safer than Delhi and Mumbai. Going out in big groups (at night) will ensure that you are safe. There is no need to panic after this incident.” - Swetha, private firm employee

“The Fraser town incident is really sad. Police should take action against the accused. In terms of women’s safety, Bangalore is no different from Delhi or Mumbai.” - Maria, student