Identification parade of kids to find rapist

The alleged rape of a four-year-old girl at her school in Uttar Pradesh’s
Gorakhpur town has turned all the male students of the school into possible suspects are being treated as criminals.

Reports said, the possible suspects, who included students of primary classes as well, were  made to undergo ‘identification parade’ in batches before the victim.
The girl was allegedly raped at the school a few days ago and the school has been closed since then.

Sources said police asked the parents of the male students to come to the police station, where the students are paraded before the victim.

“This is very humiliating’’, said a father of one of the male students. The cops said they are calling the students in batches of 10.

“We have asked the district administration to get the school opened so that we could conduct the identification parade in one go’’, said a police official.

He said the identification process will continue till the last male student was paraded.
“We have no other option,” he added. However, the parents decried the identification process and said it might adversely affect their wards.

The cops said they had been encountering strange but innocent queries from the children. One of the students of fourth standard asked a cop if he was the new class teacher, said the official.

Senior officials here said they are not aware of the matter and would look into it.
The alleged rape had triggered widespread condemnation. The angry residents of the area had also staged demonstrations demanding arrest of the culprit. The school manager and principal have been arrested.