Bangalore minor rape: Principal, director arrested

Bangalore Police arrested the principal and one of the directors of the private school where a six-year-old child was allegedly raped. A case of negligence was also filed against the institution for not following the guidelines issued for children safety.

The child was allegedly raped twice by a school teacher on October 28 and October 29 at the private school in Bangalore.

Additional Commissioner of Police for law and order, Alok Kumar said the principal Vaijayanthi and director Pramod Arya were arrested under two sections of the Indian Penal Code and one section under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

"The head of the management and the principal of the school, they have arrested on the accounts of, first thing is that under section 188 of IPC that is for disobedience to any promulgation by a public servant. So for that they have been booked under section 188 of IPC. Second charge is under 336 so that is negligence, so due to negligence causing hurt. So under that section we have booked them," said Kumar.

He added that both the accused have been booked under Section 21 of the POCSO Act for not informing the police after learning about the incident. Kumar also said both of them have been sent to the magistrate and further probe is underway.

The police on Saturday morning had summoned members of the management team at the school including the vice-president, secretary, principal and others. They were questioned by a team of police officers for a few hours before the director and the principal of the school were arrested.

Hundreds of parents and people gathered at the school for the third successive day since the incident took place. The parents have been demanding stringent action against the school management for allowing a Hindi teacher to continue to work in the school despite complaints about his behaviour with the students.

Reportedly the accused is a 37-year-old faculty member, identified as Jaishankar, who teaches Hindi.

This is the third such incident in recent months to have taken place within school premises in Bangalore.

A three-year-old child was allegedly raped at the private school she attended by a school teacher late on October 21.

In July, a school coach was detained over an alleged sexual attack on a six-year-old girl that had prompted protests by parents for several days. Barely a month later, allegations of a 63-year-old teacher assaulting an eight-year-old child in school premises over a period of time, surfaced.