While people in Kolkata are still trying to get over last year's incident where a four-year-old was sexually assaulted in the prestigious GD Birla Centre for Education, another such crime — this time involving a Class 2 student — brought concerned parents to streets on Friday, February 9.
They were demanding action against a dance teacher accused of sexually assaulting the girl for almost a year. The teacher was arrested by the police on Friday.
#UPDATE Kolkata's molestation case: Teacher, accused of molesting a student of Class 2 in Carmel Primary School, arrested by police.
— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2018
The teacher allegedly forced himself on the girl repeatedly. He had even threatened to bury the minor alive if she revealed anything to her parents, said the reports. The horror came to light only when the girl stopped going to school and informed her mother of the repeated assaults on her.
The victim's parents approached the school principal on Thursday and strongly demanded that the teacher should be arrested.
"My brother and her wife had discussed it with the principal but she refused to accept it and, instead, said the girl might be lying. Consequently, parents decided to assemble (at the school) and talk to the authorities," the victim's uncle told Indian Express.
Accused teacher returned to school
Things turned ugly on Friday when the accused teacher was seen inside the school even though a police complaint had been made. Several parents gathered outside the school accusing the administrators of negligence.
One of the protesting parents said the school had denied the allegations by the victim and her parents. "It was then that we decided to stage a protest outside the school," he said.
The protesting parents demanded that the school authorities hand over the teacher to them and that justice would be served. A local police officer said: "We then decided to take the victim, her parents and the accused out of the school premises."
Read: Haryana: 5-year-old raped, killed in Hisar; parents claim violation with a stick
Referring to the increasing number of sexual assault cases in schools, State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said: "We have already set guidelines for schools to follow. We will see if in this case the guidelines were followed or not."
Meanwhile, a section of Twitterati went online and expressed their anger at the incident. Here are a few of their tweets:
South kolkata # Protest at Carmel School over the allegation of molestation of class 2 student by a dance teacher. pic.twitter.com/mP8BgbOVDp
— Shabana@ANI (@ShabanaANI2) February 9, 2018
A dance teacher has been accused of sexually assaulting a Class 2 student at Carmel Primary School. As parents stage protest outside the school, the officer-in-charge of Tollygunge Police Station was injured during an altercation.#Carmel #Molestationhttps://t.co/E052GFdakA
— Shreya (@ShreyaTeresita) February 9, 2018
Class 2 student molested in a school in Kolkata.
— Juliyana (@JuliyanaLeslie) February 9, 2018
Such shameful acts are sickening!
Even little children not spared? u@CNNnews18#StopThisShame
Angry protests outside Carmel Primary School in #Kolkata. Class 2 student allegedly molested by a teacher @MamataOfficial @KolkataPolice pic.twitter.com/StDT7hfihd
— Manoj Gupta (@PassionForNews) February 9, 2018
Damn! Class 2 student sexually assaulted by teacher in Kolkata. Such a shame. These teachers should be killed right away.
— Inderjeet Singh ? (@OfficialInderJ) February 9, 2018
Kill these bloody perverts.
Ye Swami Vivekananda, Bhagat Singh, Abdul Kalam ki country kis tarah ja rahi hai ?
Shameful!!!
The parents have also alleged that despite the number of molestation incidents in schools, the school authorities haven't paid heed to installation of CCTV cameras.
