Sexual abuse of kid: Parents vent ire against school

The school in Manipal witnessed huge uproar as parents gathered in a large number to raise voice against the incident of sexual abuse of a nursery student, on Monday.

MLA Pramod Madhwaraj who arrived at the protest venue said that he has urged the SP to take strict action against the accused.

“I was in Mumbai when I received an SMS from a parent describing the incident. The parent alleged that school authorities are not responding. I told them to bring the issue to the notice of the police. Parents also met the SP. I told them to give a written complaint,” he said and alleged that the principal has not even shown the courtesy to meet the mother of the child.

The gathered parents alleged that the principal and the management of the school did not respond to the parents of the girl child, the victim of the sexual abuse. Divya Hegde, a parent, said that the principal should respond to the parents on the incident as there was no action taken against the duo by the school management even after the parents reported the incident a few days ago to the school principal.

‘‘There is no parents teachers association (PTA) in the school and repeated appeals to the school management to hold meeting with the parents did not yield any fruit in the past. There are nearly 10 channels if the parent wants to meet the school authorities,’’ she added.

She said the child missed the bus on that ill-fated day and it is a mystery that how the child missed the bus, as every nursery kid will be accompanied by a teacher to the bus. The conductors took the child in an auto-rickshaw as directed by the driver of the bus. They dropped the child after two hours.

In the parent-teacher meeting, parents demanded clarification from the management over the lapse of security.

Manipal University Registrar G K Prabhu who is also the president of the school management said that security will be given priority in the school. Parent teacher association will be constituted within a month. The PTA meeting will be held every third Thursday in a month.

The PTA representative will be part of the governing council meeting. Annual general body meeting will be held within a month. He said the professional management of the school is entrusted to the Pearson Group from Bangalore. Besides, the school belongs to Academy of General Education.

He added that CCTV cameras would be installed at strategic points in the school campus. Safety is our priority.

He also said that Pearson Group should be more responsible and henceforth a lady maid will be compulsorily sent in the bus to ensure the safety of the kids. He said that he will convey the message to the heads of Manipal Group that the parents were not happy with the management of Pearson Group and are also dissatisfied with the principal Jessy Andrews.

Pearson Group President Umashankar Vishwanath said that henceforth all the recruitments including teaching staff will be taken up only after police verification.

Accused in judicial custody

The accused involved in the sexual abuse of a nursery student was remanded to judicial custody for 15 days, which will end on October 5.

The Manipal police station CPI Sadananda Tippannanvar told Deccan Herald  that Shubha Kumar and Sudhir, who were arrested by the Manipal police on Sunday were produced before the CJM court on Monday.

They will be lodged in Hiriyadka jail. He added that the medical report of the kid is awaited as the child had undergone medical examination on Sunday.

“We are investigating into the role of an auto rickshaw driver who dropped the kid to the house. Action might be taken against the management under the negligence act as they had failed to inform the police,” he said.