A four-year-old girl, a lower kindergarten student at a reputed private school in the Banjara Hills area of Hyderabad, was sexually molested by the driver of the school’s principal.
The culprit, a 25-year-old man named Rajani Kumar was arrested by the Hyderabad Police, while the principal Madhavi was taken in for negligence. “She allowed access to her driver into the digital classroom where he committed the offence on the child,” M Narender, Station House Officer Banjara Hills told DH, while stating “finger penetration” had taken place.
The incident came to light when the girl’s parents, along with others, confronted the principal and assaulted the driver at the school premises on Tuesday. The anguished parents were crying inconsolably, demanding to know how the school authorities could let such a heinous act take place in the classroom.
The parents alleged that the driver had been assaulting their child for the past two months. According to the mother, the girl appeared traumatised, and would often cry and complain of pain. Suspecting that something was wrong, the mother gathered information from the child to put together what happened.
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The child’s parents alleged that the driver assaulted their child with the principal’s consent and under her watch. “He could have cornered the girl after other children left the room. While the girl’s medical examination report supports the claim of finger penetration, we are verifying the charges that the driver committed the offence repeatedly for months,” the official said.
Kumar was booked under Section 376AB (punishment for rape on woman under 12 years age) of the Indian Penal Code, and provisions of the POCSO Act dealing with penetrative sexual assault on children. Madhavi was booked under Section 21 of POCSO Act, which relates to failing to report an offence—a bailable one—with maximum imprisonment of one year.
Kumar, who was sent to judicial custody, could face the death sentence as the maximum punishment. “We will collect all the scientific evidence and file a charge sheet,” the officer said.
The Hyderabad School Parents Association condemned the incident, and the gross negligence by the principal, who allowed her driver access to children.