'I was shocked when I saw the injury'

‘The school's criminality needs to established. The school should be booked for scarring my innocent child for no fault of hers and letting something like this happen in the classroom,’ the girl’s mother tells Rediff.com in an email.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com.

‘I am shocked to share that my child, a student in MaxfortSchool, Sector 7, Dwarka, was sexually assaulted by her classmate on Friday, November 17, 2017.

‘The incident happened when the teacher was not in the class. The ayah was left in charge of the class. The incident happened during school hours in the school premises because of negligence on the part of the assigned teacher. 

‘According to my daughter, the boy opened her trousers, touched her bloomers and put his finger inside. It happened once or twice, it seems, because she told me it happened in the washroom and then in the classroom.

‘She adds that the boy had just finished eating his food, he had not washed his hands and then touched her private part. In the washroom, there was no Didi who could help her and in the classroom, the teacher was not around, and she says he sharpened his pencil and put it in too. 

‘She came home writhing in pain in her private parts but somehow bore it, informing me casually that her tummy is hurting. As a child of four years, eight months, she was in pain and complained twice on Friday. It worsened on Saturday, and she complained to me holding her bloomers and telling me it is hurting.

‘At night, just before going off to sleep she narrated the incident that left me aghast. She cried profusely and went to look for an ointment that I usually apply when they she is hurt, Arnica. When I opened her bloomers and saw the injury, I was shocked.  

‘The signs of assault were visible as her private parts were red and swollen, and when I applied ointment to it, she started crying all the more in pain. I informed my husband (over the phone, since he was in Mumbai), and my daughter went on to narrate the incident to him too. 

‘It was traumatic for my husband and me.

‘I sent a message to her class teacher and waited for the day to break. My daughter had a sleepless night as she was constantly saying that the boy had hurt her and she was in pain, especially while going to the washroom. 

‘Next morning, I spoke to the class teacher; she was not present in the school that day. She asked me to speak to the school coordinator and the principal, and email the complaint.

‘I called up school coordinator and she told me that she would try and speak to the teacher concerned as well as the principal. Meanwhile, the call to principal went unanswered. I spoke to my daughter's paediatrician and fearing the worst, she asked me to rush to a hospital to get my child examined. I quickly went to RocklandHospital, and the doctor on duty after medical examination confirmed that it is a case of sexual assault. The hospital filed a medico-legal case.  

‘I saw the CCTV footage and it clearly points out that 1) her teacher left the class to the ayah, 2) my daughter was the last one to walk out of the class, as she had mentioned in her statement to the police and the metropolitan magistrate, because she could not put the hook back on her trousers that the boy had opened, 3) the school is not being booked for any negligence by the police.

‘If that boy has been booked under POCSO, why can't the school be booked for criminal negligence? The police is all out to defend the school knowing well the boy is juvenile. The school's criminality needs to established. The school should be booked for scarring my innocent child for no fault of hers and letting something like this happen in the classroom.

‘I am completely shattered at how the school could let down my daughter and my trust.

‘The school insisted on Monday that I can send my daughter to school since they have changed that boy’s section. But a boy of 5 who could be so perverted, can't be trusted in any way whatsoever. Neither can the school be trusted to take care of my child because they failed her and me in protecting her rights and protecting her childhood.’