3-year-old raped in Bengaluru, school watchman held

The security guard was detained early on Tuesday morning after being identified by the victim.

Family members of the three-year-old victim staging a protest outside Indiranagar Police station in Bengaluru on Tuesday. Photo: Sudhakara Jain.

The Indiranagar police have arrested the 30-year-old security guard of the school on charges of sexual assault on a three-year-old nursery school student in a school in Indiranagar on Monday.

The accused, identified as Gautham, has been working as the security guard in the school for the last four years. His wife works as an attendant in the same school. The couple has been living in the school premises, the police said.

According to the police, Gautham was detained early on Tuesday morning based on the complaint filed by the victim’s parents and the identification made by the victim.

The elder sister of the victim also told the police that the watchman used to call out to the victim by name, make her sit on his lap, hug her and often treated her with chocolates.

The parents of the girl learnt about the incident when she complained of pain in her private parts after returning from school at around 1 p.m. on Monday. When the mother asked, the girl narrated the horror to her mother stating, “Uncle… school” following which the mother then checked her and found bruises on her private parts.

The harried parents rushed to Bowring & Lady Curzon Hospital and consulted a doctor who after examination confirmed sexual assault. Soon, the police was informed by the hospital, who rushed to the hospital and took the statement of the victim’s parents. A complaint was lodged under POCSO Act 2012 on Monday night.

DCP (East) N. Sathish Kumar said that the incident took place in the school premises. The accused had taken the victim to his house in the school premises and committed the heinous crime. The CCTV footage revealed that the watchman was present in the school. However, the exact footage of the assault is not available. “We have taken him into the custody and detailed investigations are on,” Mr. Satish said.

School denies

However, the school management maintained that the incident did not occur on the school premises. A school official told The Hindu on Tuesday all six male staff members had been questioned by the police.

The victim was in school between 9 a.m. and noon and there is CCTV camera footage of the entire three-hour duration of the student in the classroom and her father picking her up, he added.