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Child molestation case: School headmistress, husband arrested

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rape

Bengaluru: The headmistress of a private school and her husband were arrested here on Thursday in connection with the alleged molestation of a three-year-old pre-nursery student by its security guard, a senior police official said.

“We have taken school headmistress Shirley Soujanya and its trust secretary and her husband Anil Kumar into custody under sections 188 and 336 of the Indian Penal Code for failing to protect the victim and implement the safety guidelines,” city additional police commissioner P. Harishekharan told reporters here.

Accused guard Gautam, 25, was arrested on Tuesday under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and section 376 of the IPC a day after the child’s parents filed a police complaint about the crime that occured on the school campus on Monday.

“The school management violated the mandatory guidelines enforced last year by employing the accused without a background check and disobeying order of a public servant (police commissioner) in ensuring safety and security of the students,” Harishekharan said.

The alleged sexual assault came to light when the victim complained to her parents of abdominal pain on returning home from school on Monday afternoon.

According to preliminary investigation, the guard was working in the school for four years and resides on school premises with his wife, an attendant in the same school.

“The victim’s elder sister, who also studies in the school, told her parents that the guard would often call her younger sister by name, fondle her and give chocolates to both of them,” Harishekharan recalled.

(Agencies)

Muslim student punished for not worshipping Ganesha; forced to recite shlokas, humiliated

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Represenational Image

Bengaluru: In a shocking incident, a 15-year-old Muslim student was punished and humiliated by the principal for not worshipping ‘Ganesha’ a deity worshipped by many Hindus at a school in South Bengaluru.

This academic year, the school adopted a few controversial Sanskrit shlokas as its official prayer for the morning assembly. When Padmaja Menon, the principal of the school noticed that Abdullah (name changed) and some of his other Muslim friends weren’t singing “Vakratunda Mahakaya, Surya Koti Sama Prabha…,” she asked the group to come on stage and sing loudly.

“I was humiliated in front of 1,200 students and my constitutional right was violated. She made us go on stage and forced us to sing the prayer in front of everybody. She scolded me in front of everyone on the mike when I mispronounced a few Sanskrit words,” said the boy, who is in a state of shock since the July 27 incident.

The boy said the incident has deeply hurt him. “I am on the school debate team and was elected as the head boy unanimously. I have studied here since I was in kindergarten. The teachers love me and my classmates respect me. I felt like all that was lost when I refused to sing the prayer that day,” he said.

“I feel a little awkward now to discipline other students. They look at me as though I don’t have the right anymore. Being the head boy makes me uncomfortable now,” he complained. However, Abdullah is happy with the fact that many of his Hindu friends have been by his side!

The boy’s mother, along with activists of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, approached the principal and sought clarification. However, the principal acted like she did not understand what the fuss was about and kept saying that the prayer was important to instil values and discipline in students.

The principal even suggested that the boy was turning into a fundamentalist Muslim since he was from Bhatkal (a Muslim-dominated area in Karnataka).

The only thing they managed to achieve was an exemption for Abdullah who can now sit in his class while the assembly is on. “But that is not good enough. Why can’t they go back to the old prayer which had no religion in it? Fourteen of the 32 students in my class are Muslims. There are people from other religions too. At least 30% of the school is Muslim. Why should I sit separately?” he asked.

The principal however defended her stance saying that there was nothing wrong with the prayers, one of which invokes the Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. She was quoted assaying: “But Brahma is the creator of the universe. What is wrong in invoking his name?”

On the other hand, Jessy Joseph, the former principal of the school, says the development is “very sad” and points out that Hindu prayers were sung only during festivals. “We also had a tradition of conducting all faith prayers for special occasions,” said Joseph.

“He worships the Creator of the creators of an Idol!”

Family members of Abdullah, who are preparing to take their fight further, say that the boy never agitated against a Hindu prayer song. “He just remained silent during the morning assembly because, he always worships the creator of the creators of an idol,” said one of the family members of the boy.

She said that the first two lines of the prayer song itself is an act of worshipping an idol (O Lord Ganesha, of Curved Trunk, Large Body, and with the Brilliance of a Million Suns / Please Make all my Works Free of Obstacles, Always). “We are Muslims and we seek guidance and help only from the Creator of the universe and not form a creation of the man,” she said.

(Agencies)

UN blames Israel for school attacks during Gaza war

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Inquiry says military responsible for the deaths of at least 44 Palestinians who sought refuge at UN sites last year.

gaza-school

by Al Jazeera

A UN inquiry has blamed Israeli security forces for seven deadly attacks on UN schools in Gaza that were used as shelters for safety during last year’s offensive.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Monday that he deplored the attacks that killed at least 44 Palestinians and injured at least 227 others at the UN sites.

“It is a matter of the utmost gravity that those who looked to them for protection and who sought and were granted shelter there had their hopes and trust denied,” Ban added.

The independent board of inquiry also found that weaponry was found at three empty UN schools in Gaza and that in two cases Palestinian fighters “probably” fired at Israeli forces from schools. Ban also called that “unacceptable”.

Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, noted that “the UN report says that the three schools where the weapons were found were not being used as evacuation centres, they were empty buildings”.

The 2014 war was the most devastating for Gaza’s 1.8 million people, killing more than 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to UN figures. Seventy-two people were killed on the Israeli side, including 66 soldiers.

In one case, the new inquiry found that a UN girls’ school was hit by 88 mortar rounds fired by the Israeli forces. Another girls’ school was also hit by direct fire from Israeli soldiers with an anti-tank projectile.

A third girls’ school was hit by an Israeli missile.

‘No warning’

At a fourth girls’ school, the inquiry said, “no prior warning had been given by the government of Israel of the firing of 155 MM high explosive projectiles on, or in the surrounding area of the school”.

The UN released its summary of the report but said the full 207-page report is private. The inquiry looked at 10 incidents. Ban’s statement stressed that the board of inquiry “does not make legal findings” and was not tasked with addressing the wider issues of the Gaza conflict.

Ban ordered the inquiry in November after thousands of buildings were destroyed and at least 223 Gaza schools, either run by the UN refugee agency or the Hamas government, were hit in the fighting.

When Ban visited Gaza in October, he said the destruction was “beyond description” and “much more serious” than what he witnessed in the Palestinian territory in 2009 in the aftermath of a previous Israel-Hamas war.

Ban said on Monday he had established a group of senior managers to look into the inquiry’s recommendations.

Bills introduced to make Kannada compulsory in school

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SCHOOl

Bengaluru: In a two-pronged move, Karnataka government today introduced bills to make Kannada language a mandatory subject in classes one to ten in schools affiliated to the state board and also a compulsory medium of instruction from classes one to five.

The Kannada Language Learning Bill, 2015 seeks to make Kannada a mandatory subject in classes one to ten in all schools affiliated to the state board.

In tandem, a bill to amend the Right to Education Act was also introduced by Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar.

The bill amended Section 29 (2) of the Right To Education Act to change the provision “medium of instruction shall, as far as practicable, be in mother’s tongue” to “Kannada or mother tongue will be medium of instruction in primary schools” from classes to one to five.

The amendment would help the government in its arguments before the Supreme Court when the curative petition is taken up.

The Supreme Court had rejected a revision petition filed by the state government seeking review of its ruling which upheld a Karnataka High Court judgement striking down an order issued by the state government in 1994 to impose Kannada or mother tongue as a medium of instruction in primary schools.

The curative petition filed by the government is yet to be heard by the Supreme Court.

The cabinet had on March 19 approved the proposed amendment bill before tabling it in the assembly.

Yet another bill to amend Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Teachers) Act, 2007 was also introduced, which seeks to increase the cap on teachers’ transfer from the present five per cent to eight percent.

(Agencies)

Bangalore school booked, attendant detained for alleged rape of nursery student

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Parents speak to police outside the private school in Jalahalli. Photo: Special Arrangement

Parents speak to police outside the private school in Jalahalli. Photo: Special Arrangement

Bangalore: A criminal case has been filed against a school in Bangalore where a three-year-old nursery student was sexually assaulted on Tuesday. An attendant has also been detained, the police said.

The attendant, believed to be 45, is being questioned but hasn’t been arrested yet. He had allegedly been missing till now.

The police say the school has been booked for running classes beyond the sanctioned limit; it reportedly had a licence to run only classes 1 to 6. The school is allegedly running the nursery section illegally and has been asked to explain.

There have been angry protests in Bangalore since the case surfaced on Tuesday, the third instance of sexual assault in a school in four months.

The child’s mother says she found her daughter crying when she went to pick her up from the school on Tuesday.

According to the police complaint filed by her father, the child “had signs of fever and complained to her mother that she was physically abused by someone she did not know or recognize.”

The police registered a case of rape on the father’s complaint. “We have registered a criminal case late Tuesday on a complaint by the victim’s father that his young daughter was sexually abused in the Orchid International School premises,” said Police Inspector TC Venkatesh on Wednesday. “We are checking the footage of CCTV cameras and questioning the staff and faculty,” he added.

Three months ago, Bangalore witnessed large street protests after a six-year-old child was raped at her school; two gym instructors were arrested.

Nearly 200 schools in the IT city were booked for not having safety measures in place.

Sexual assault of school girl confirmed, says Bangalore top cop

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Parents protest outside the school where a minor was sexually assaulted. (Photo: ANI)

Parents protest outside the school where a minor was sexually assaulted. (Photo: ANI)

Bangalore: The sexual assault on a three-and-half-year-old girl student at a school here has been confirmed by doctors, as police today intensified the probe into the horrific incident which evoked protest from parents.

The school staff members were questioned and the CCTV footage was being examined by the police, as outraged parents thronged the campus of Orchid International School demanding answers from its authorities on the incident.

“The doctors (at a private hospital where the girl was taken for treatment yesterday) confirmed there was a slight bruise of a very small dimension, amounting to sexual assault,” Bangalore Police Commissioner M N Reddi told reporters here.

Reddi said, “There is the statement of the child and the injury and the circumstances. At this point of time, there is no other possibility. It looks like a sexual assault.”

A criminal case has been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 and IPC section 376 (rape) on a complaint from the father of the child, he said.

This is the third incident of a minor girl student being allegedly sexually assaulted on school campus in the city in the last four months.

Reddi said the girl was crying when her mother picked her up from the school at Jalahalli yesterday noon and she was not behaving normal and had symptoms of fever.

While the girl initially told her mother that someone beat her up, she later said she was sexually assaulted, police said.

Reddi said it was difficult for the police to say they are clueless whether the crime happened on the school premises or outside. “Our objective is to detect the case and investigate fairly. It would be difficult for me to tell you we are clueless,” he said.

Asked about the school management clarifying that the assault took place outside the school campus, Reddi said the police would conduct a thorough investigation despite varied opinions about the crime.

“We have spoken to all possible people including the school management….the police will do a professional investigation,” he said.

Reddi said the police had contacted the school management as per the demands made by parents and its chief has been asked to visit Bangalore. The school is an inter-state institution, whose main group is from neighboring Andhra Pradesh, he said.

He also said the parents had been requested to form a small group of five to eight people, who would be in touch with the investigating authorities and management, “to tackle confusion over varied information pouring in.”

Reddi said the area and the classroom in which the girl sits also have been inspected and CCTV footage seized and being examined.

“I am shocked about the news that the incident has happened in this school where the atmosphere was so good. I have come here to know from the management what has happened. I have been to this school, security is good here,” a parent of a child studying in the school said.

“If it is true that the incident has happened in the school, then we will definitely support that child and try to get justice for her,” another parent said.

Three cases of sexual assault on minor girls in schools have occurred in the last four months in Bangalore.

An eight-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by her 63-year-old teacher inside her school premises over a period of time, with the offence coming to the fore in early August, barely a month after the “gang-rape” of a six-year-old girl at Vibgyor High School here evoked public outrage.

The Vibgyor school incident saw public erupt in anger on the streets leading to police issuing stringent guidelines to schools to ensure safety of children and government amending the Goondas Act to bring sexual offences under its ambit.

(PTI)

4 year old girl raped in Bangalore school

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The alleged assault on the child is the latest in a series of brutal gender-related crimes that have caused outrage in India.

The alleged assault on the child is the latest in a series of brutal gender-related crimes that have caused outrage in the country.

Bangalore: In a shocking incident a four-year-old girl was raped allegedly by a teacher at her school in North Bangalore on Tuesday.

The girl, an LKG student of ‘Orchids International School’ located near Jalahalli Cross, off Tumkur Road, was subjected to medical tests and later admitted to a private hospital in Yeshwantpur.

Acting on a complaint filed by her mother, North division police headed by DCP TR Suresh interrogated six male teachers in the night. Two were found on the school campus, and the others were summoned from home, police said. No arrests or detentions were made. The incident came to light when the girl’s mother noticed wounds on her private parts after she returned from school in the evening, and questioned her.

The child revealed she had been abused by a teacher. “Uncle did this to me,” she reportedly told her mother.

Police say they are questioning school staff and are waiting for a report on the child’s medical condition.

The incident comes three months after a six-year-old was raped by a staff member in another Bangalore school.

That led to street protests by parents and activists, with many accusing the school of not handling the allegations properly.

The school has eight campuses in Bangalore, besides branches in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. Police have registered a case against under Sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code for rape.

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