Bangalore rape: Parents protest delay in arresting culprits

Hundreds of angry parents Saturday protested the delay in arresting the two teachers accused of sexually assaulting a six-year-old student in a privately-run school in the city's southeast suburb.

"We have submitted a memorandum to Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar seeking arrest of the culprits and stringent action against the school management for hushing up the criminal act," Nandish Reddy, a parent, told IANS.

Auradkar assured the agitated parents of action against the culprits later in the day but did not say if the accused would be arrested, as demanded by parents.

"I request you to have faith in us. We are going to take action against the accused. Have patience and bear with us as our officers have been working 24x7 over the last four days in investigating the case," Auradkar told the parents.

About 500 social activists and youths also joined the agitated parents in staging a 4km-march protest from the school to HAL police station and demonstrated over the delay in acting against the accused.

"We want justice now, as we have waited enough for the police to act. It is four days since the complaint was lodged (July 15) and an FIR was registered but the accused have not been arrested yet nor the school's management interrogated," Reddy, a former BJP lawmaker from the city's assembly segment, said.

The parents, majority of them working in the IT sector, were also upset over an hour-long delay by Auradkar in reaching the police station though he was informed Friday about the protest march to submit the memo.

"I am sorry for keeping you waiting by reaching here late. I was waiting for an updated on the case. There was a delay but our officers have been on the job. The moment the initial investigation is completed and credible evidence collected, I will take action and come back to you," Aurdakar told the parents, trying to pacify them.

Sharing the grief and anger of the parents, Auradkar said the incident was inhuman and condemnable.

"All of us are pained by the incident. It is shameful. The perpetrators will not be spared. Though the incident happened 18 days ago (July 2), there was a delay in knowing about it, as the child was in trauma and her parents took time to complain about the incident," Auradkar said.

Rejecting the commissioner's assurances, parents wanted the arrest of the culprits and investigation of the school management for its criminal negligence in not taking action against the accused and the class teacher.