Child Welfare Committee on Wednesday conducted a thorough enquiry into the case registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, against six juveniles by M. Kallupatti police on August 6.
Its Chairman Jim Jesudoss led the panel that held enquiries with children from both sides, medical officers, teachers of both schools and police personnel.
The Kallupatti police had registered cases against five boys and a girl, all Dalits and aged below 12 years, under provisions of POCSO and for wrongful restraint, using abusive words, assault with deadly weapons and criminal intimidation. It was consequent to a complaint lodged by father of a caste Hindu girl after children from different communities and different schools fought on the street on Friday morning over an argument of whose school was better.
The children were accused of pelting stones and ‘bodily touching’ for which they were booked under the provisions of POCSO.
Sources said that the district administration had sought reports on the case from the District Child Protection Officer and from the School Education Department.
Further progress of the investigation in the case would be based on findings of these reports, an official said.
Meanwhile, the district administration is planning to conduct games at both the schools on Saturday to ease the stress among children from both the sides. “These children have met many strangers when officials visited them and had undergone a lot of enquiries in the last few days. Hence, they could have suffered mental stress,” an official said.
Stating that they did not want to discriminate between children who were involved in the incident, the official said that the games would be conducted for children of both the schools and prizes given to all the winners. “A psychiatrist will talk to the children about positive approach in life,” the official said.
