School chairman held in Bangalore child rape case

Thousands gathered in Bangalore in protest against the rape of a six-year-old in a school. File photo

Chairman of the Bangalore school where a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped, evoking public outrage and triggering protests, has been arrested.

Rustom Kerawalla was arrested under various Sections of IPC, Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), Bangalore Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi told reporters.

Police have invoked Section 201 of IPC (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) against Kerawalla, he said.

The police also detained four staff members of the school located at Marathahalli.

This is the second arrest after that of Mustafa, skating instructor as the main accused, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the parents and Education Department officials met on Wednesday to discuss about how early the school could be opened.

The delay in nabbing the culprits and taking action against the school management had evoked widespread criticism, leading to protests in the city and elsewhere in the last one week.

The incident had happened on July 2 and the complaint was lodged on July 14, while the first arrest came six days later.

Karnataka government has also written to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations Board to derecognise the school.

Meet deferred

Meanwhile, the meeting between the school staff and parents in the Bangalore child rape case scheduled for today has been postponed to Thursday. The parents want to negotiate with the school management which failed to arrive for the meeting.