Bangalore rape case: Ex-NCPCR chairperson wants better security for students

Terming the rape of a three-year-old LKG student in Bangalore as shameful, former National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Kushal Singh on Wednesday called for serious introspection of value systems being practiced within society, and said the onus should be put on educational institutions to ensure better security and protection of kids.

"I think such incidents are very shameful, and we as a society, have to really take them very seriously, and repetition of such incidents really means that we get agitated only when an incident occurs. But, we are not willing to take the steps which are required to ensure that such incidents don't take place," Singh told ANI here.

Stressing on the need for education institutions like schools, tutorials and nurseries to take the responsibility of providing protection and security to their wards, Singh said, "There are two specific suggestions in this regard that we made to the state governments that all institutions should be held responsible for the security of the children, once the child leaves the home, then the security and the protection becomes the responsibility of the institution where the child is, whether it is the school, whether it is nursery or whether it is even the tutorials where children go to study."

"But the responsibility for protection of the child has to be specifically laid down to ensure that these institutions provide the security which the child requires," she added.

She also asked for instilling a value system among the kids who would grow up to be adults having a rightful approach towards giving respect to individuals.

"Apart from that we as a society also have to look as to why such incidents are taking place in our society, does it have something to do with our patriarchal value system which doesn't instill a sense of respect for women and definitely not a sense of respect for children and till we as a society can instill the value system in our children who will grow up to be adults that all individuals require proper respect, that value system I feel is still lacking," she added.

The former NCPCR chairperson also took on the Karnataka Government for its administrative lapses in such incidents.

"I believe that the Karnataka Government had issued guidelines in this regard immediately after the incident I think which took place in July, but it appears that these guidelines are not being implemented and are not even been looked at which definitely is an administrative lapse," Singh said.

A three-year-old LKG student of a private school in Bangalore was allegedly raped by her school teacher on Tuesday.

The girl was subjected to medical tests on Tuesday before being admitted to a private hospital.

According to reports, Bangalore Police Commissioner M.N. Reddy visited the school yesterday and ordered an investigation into the matter.

This incident of sexual abuse in a city school has occurred almost three months after a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two gym instructors inside the premises of another private school in Bangalore on July 3.