The school headmistress, who was arrested following the alleged rape of a seven-year old girl student on the school premises, has claimed that she is being made a scapegoat in the case.

Police had on Sunday arrested headmistress Sharlet Furtado for negligence on her part which led to the rape of the girl in the toilet of the school in Vasco town on January 14.

"The arrest of the accused (headmistress) is intended to divert the attention of the public protest and find a scapegoat for the failure of the investigating team to nab the accused," a lawyer representing Furtado had told the court yesterday.

Furtado, who was granted bail by a local court yesterday, had an unblemished career during the last ten years as a teacher, her lawyer claimed.

She had been consistently drawing the attention of the management to the lack of security at the school gates, the lawyer had told the court.

"A number of memorandums and representations were submitted to the management to provide security and placing CCTV cameras to record the entry of persons into the school premises," she added.

The issue had also been discussed in the parents-teachers association meetings, she said. The main accused in the rape case is still at large.