Police U-turn stumps parents

Students of classes 1 to 4 of Vibgyor High school in Marathalli finally went to school on Wednesday after a gap of almost 15 days, when it was closed following widespread protests over the alleged rape of a minor girl. On Monday, classes had started for students of classes 5 to 10.

Out of a total of 2,223 students between classes 1 to 10, 1,585 came to school on Wednesday, according to S M Ramesh, Block Education Officer, South range – 4. Between classes 8 and 10, the attendance was 85 per cent, between classes 5 and 7, it was 86 per cent and in classes 1 to 4, the attendance was 66 per cent, Ramesh said.

“On Monday, the attendance for classes 5 to 7, was 66 per cent and this increased to 80 per cent on Wednesday. With the pre-primary classes resuming on Friday, more students are bound to come. Everything is normal and classes went of smoothly,” said Ramesh.

Meanwhile, parents of students studying at Vibgyor High reacted with disbelief on the U-turn by the police on the rape case probe.

The police on Tuesday said Mustafa, the skating instructor at the school who was earlier arrested for the rape, was not directly involved. The police have now arrested two gym instructors of the school on the charge of gangraping the girl.

Tremendous pressure

“The police must have been under tremendous pressure, which is why they jumped the gun. However, I do not know who to believe in this country anymore. Who do we trust?,” asked a parent, whose son studies in class 2. The parent did not send his son to school on Wednesday, due to the belief that the culprits were still at large.

“I fear that the big fish and real culprit will get away in all this confusion,” he said.
Another parent, whose daughter studies in class 2, did not send her to school. She said that it was totally “lax on the part of the police” in catching the wrong person in the first place.

“I did not have faith in the management and so I did not send her to school. I cannot entrust the safety of my child to CCTVs. The management has not owned full responsibility for the incident and their attitude has been totally appalling,” she said.
The parent is finalising plans to send her daughter to another school.