Parents Protest Over Sexual Assault of 4-Year-Old GD Birla Student

Emotions ran high at GD Birla Centre for Education in Kolkata over the weekend after the parents of a four-year-old student alleged that the child had been sexually abused by two physical education teachers in the school premises.

The incident has not only triggered a panic button among the parents and guardians but have also opened floodgates of allegations against the school management. On 3 December, ANI reported that the school would be shut down indefinitely.

As the news of the sexual assault broke, hundreds of parents began to gather at the school premise in Ranikuthi at Regent Park area off South Kolkata demanding a security beef-up and strict action against the school authorities, particularly the Principal.

Police have arrested two Physical Education teachers of the school, identified as Abhishek Ray and Mohammad Mofizuddin, who have been accused of outraging the modesty of the girl inside the toilet on pretext of offering her a chocolate. Abhishek is also known as ‘chocolate Kaku’ among the children because he regularly distributes sweets among them.

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The school staff said Abhishek had been working for the past seven years while Mohammad Mofizuddin had been employed for the past two years.

The incident occurred on 30 November, a senior officer at Jadavpur police station said.

We initially thought it was some infection. We took her to the doctor who said she was physically abused. My daughter is still in a lot of pain.

The child’s father

The girl was shown four photos to identify the accused and she identified two people, raising questions about the involvement of more than one person, sources said.

Similar Incident Occurred at the School 3 Years Ago

Several parents said they were apprehensive of letting their wards continue studying at the GD Birla school.

I am really worried and considering shifting my daughter to some other school. A similar incident had taken place here almost three years ago when a minor child was assaulted by a bus conductor but the school then also had tried to hush-up the matter. They are resorting to similar tactics again.

Ranadeep Mukherjee whose daughter studies in the school.

A section of the parents were also angry at the school being run as a co-education for Class XI and XII, “This is a girl’s school till Class X. They should not have made it co-education for the higher classes. How our daughters are safe if they are using the same toilets along with the boys,” questioned Rupa Bhattacharya, who was spearheading the protest along with other parents.

Around 75 school staffers and non-teaching staff stayed inside the premise under school protection till 12.40 am on Saturday, 2 December, as parents refused to budge till the school management promised to upgrade security apparatus.

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj

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