Mumbai: Parents of students gathered at a school in Malad on Tuesday to protest the alleged sexual assault on a four-year-old girl student on the premises by a security guard over three days. Police said the accused, identified as Vishal Sarde, 28, has been arrested. He had been employed by the school for three years.
Police said on August 1, Sarde took the girl to the school toilet and sexually assaulted her. He allegedly repeated the act over the next three days. The girl complained to her parents on August 4, who took it up with the school principal and later approached Dindoshi police station, where an FIR by the girl’s mother was registered against Sarde. Police said he was placed under arrest and charged with rape under the IPC and with sexual assault on a minor under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
When other parents came to know of the heinous crime, a large group gathered at the school on Tuesday to protest negligence by school authorities. Police personnel were deployed at the school to maintain law and order, and senior police officers met parents and assured them of speedy and strict action in the case.
DCP (Zone XII) Vinay Rathod said, “We have arrested the accused and investigations are on. Parents who had gathered to protest were placated and they dispersed peacefully.”
Sarde was remanded in police custody till August 11 by a court, and is now being interrogated to find out if he has committed similar acts in the past on other students, or children not connected to the school.
