Sexual assault of 5-year-old: School should have acted promptly

Mumbai: The rape of a five-year-old inside a municipal school last week has left parents agitated

Mumbai: The rape of a five-year-old inside a municipal school last week has left parents agitated. Although the 15-year-old culprit has been arrested, parents are highlighting the security lapse on the part of the school administration and the delay in taking the child to Nair Hospital.

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“Action must be taken against the principal and management,” said Ajaz Ansari, whose six-year-old studies in the same premises, where English and Urdu medium schools stand. The five-year-old was raped inside the compound of the school after she was abducted from outside her house in the vicinity. She is a student of the school.

When this reporter visited the school on Thursday, hoping for an audience with the principal, two security guards refused to let her in and brought a message from the principal stating that she would not speak on the subject without permissions from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The present guards were appointed following last week’s incident, after the former security personnel provided by Crystal, were dismissed.

The child was reportedly first taken to private clinics in the neighbourhood, which refused to treat her. Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh, who is a local councillor, said he learnt about the incident around 8.30 pm, after the caretaker of the school took the parents to Nair Hospital; cops were informed by the hospital administration.

Shaikh, head of the NGO Ahtesaab Foundation, runs the English medium school in a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement with BMC. According to Shaikh, the NGO only provides the teachers for the school. The principal is a BMC employee and the security too is its responsibility, he claimed.

The PPP has angered locals as well as politicians, with Aslam Merchant of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) saying, “How was an NGO headed by a politician allowed by BMC to enter into a PPP arrangement for their school? BMC rules clearly state that the agency must have ‘no communal or political agenda’ to be considered for partnership.”

AAP has now demanded compensation for the victim as well as trial by a fast-track court. Merchant also pointed out that drugs are sold in a lane close to the school, which he alleged cops knew about.

Earlier on Wednesday, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) city president and a former MLA from the area, Faiyaz Ahmed, submitted a letter to BMC demanding an inquiry into the rape. The letter pointed to the fact that CCTV cameras were not installed in the school after it was recently renovated, as well as BMC’s negligence in providing adequate security arrangements.

Ansari said, “We want BMC to run the English medium school. They can afford to hire teachers themselves instead of depending on politicians.”