Parents want answers from school on rape, say 'scared for our kids'

People who took part in a protest outside a school in Indiranagar on Tuesday against the suspected rape of a three-year-old girl had a nagging question in their mind: Why didn’t they get the support of parents whose children study in the institution?

It has now emerged that when the protest erupted outside the school, the management showed the parents of other students Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera footage as “proof” that nothing wrong had happened on the campus.

Many of the parents believed

the school without asking any questions. But with the arrest of school watchman, Gautam, who admitted to taking the girl into his house located on the campus, parents are perplexed. Many of them are now extending support to the little girl’s parents. Latha J, whose child studies in  nursery at the school, had fully supported the management initially. But after learning about Gautam’s confession, she changed her mind and said she was worried about her own child.

“If it could happen to her, it could also happen to my child and the  children of others,” Latha said.

On why she didn’t come out in support of the girl and her parents earlier, Latha said: “I didn’t know what exactly had happened yesterday, but now I am with the child. It is not about caste and community, but about the child.”

Sunitha, another parent whose child in nursery school, said that she was still in a state of confusion as the school had claimed something else while the confession of Gautam revealed an entirely different thing.

“Yesterday, the school authorities showed us the footage captured on surveillance camera and claimed that nothing had happened on their premises. I did not know much about what had happened,” Sunitha said. Parents of some of the students are even contemplating pulling out their children out of the school.

“My daughter studied in the school and passed out of here. My son is in class 7. It is a very sad incident and has left me confused. I might even pull out my son from the school, though I am not too sure right now,” said a parent.

T Michael Lamjathang Haokip, president of the Thadou Students’ Association, who organised the protest on Tuesday, said that at least 10 parents belonging to the Nepali community visited the girl and parents at the hospital and declared their wish to pull their wards out of the school. Thadou is a tribe in northeastern India.

latha j, a parent: If it could happen to her, it could also happen to my child and others’ children. I didn’t know what exactly had happened, but now I am with the child. It is not about caste and community, but about the child.