GD Birla sexual assault: Arrested teachers' police custody extended till Dec 15
Kolkata, Dec 4 (IBNS): A POCSO court in Kolkata's Alipore on Monday extended the police custody term of two teachers of GD Birla school, who are accused of sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl student of the same school, by 12 days, reports said.
Earlier on Friday, after hour-long interrogation at Jadavpur Police Station, two physical education teachers of southern Kolkata's GD Brila school, Avishek Roy and Md. Mafizuddin, were arrested for their alleged role in sexualy abusing a lower nursery student inside the school premise.
According to police reports, they have been charged under sections 4 and 6 of POCSO Act.
The duo was produced before a special vacational court on Saturday and they were sent to two-day police remand.
As their police custody term ended on Monday, the accused teachers were produced in a POCSO court at Alipore and they were sent to police custody till Dec 15.
The court has also directed a forensic test of the victim child's school uniform and ordered to record her statement.
The duo, however, will be produced to the same court again on Dec 15.
Meanwhile, a special committee, comprising of representatives from West Bengal State Education department, West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, ICSE Board Delhi and Kolkata Police, has been formed to look into the allegations of negligence and false representation of affiliation to ICSE board, reports said.
The incident occurred at the school named GD Birla Centre for Education, located in Ranikuthi, in the southern part of the city.
The parents have alleged that the child returned home crying and with blood stains on her dress; later the mother also found her bleeding from her private parts.
The child was allegedly abused inside a school toilet, media reported.
Meanwhile, commentng on the incident, Komal Ganotra, Director Policy and Advocacy at CRY said, “The incident of child abuse in the Kolkata School clearly indicates at a huge lack of understanding as it comes to the issue of child safety in school premises, and an equally huge gap in showing the administrative will in terms of implementation of whatever child safety guidelines they have in place.
“This is also a grim reminder of the fact that we, as a country, do not have proper prevention mechanism in place to address the issue, not are we keen on building more empathetic understanding and intervention plans adequately backed up by sustained investment on child security.
“Child protection in our country cannot be ensured with just having legislations and numerous guidelines. We as country need to commit in cultivating a culture of zero tolerance to violence against children. We should be vigilant and cognisant of the fact that children are at risk with gaps in infrastructure, processes and systems as well as people. It is non-negotiable for school spaces to equip themselves in recognising these risks and put robust systems and processes to assess and eliminate risks.”
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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