The case of molestation of a four-year-old girl in a prestigious North Kolkata school left the people of the city in shock.
As more details of the incident — regarding which the police have arrested two teachers of the school — come to the fore, people are continuing to protest against the school, even as politicians start to flock at the residence of the victim, in what many are claiming to be efforts to gain political mileage.
Meanwhile, a heated debate is raging on regarding the punishment that should be meted out to people who commit such crimes on children.
'Bad teachers' arrested
The incident is believed to have taken place on Thursday, November 30, when the four-year-old student of the all-girls GD Birla school — officially the GD Birla Centre for Education — came home crying. Her mother tried to console her when she noticed blood near the girl's private parts and clothes, according to local reports.
Her parents rushed to the Netaji Nagar police station to lodge a complaint, but were referred to the Jadavpur police station instead, they said. The cops at this police station then sent them to the SSKM hospital for medical checkup.
The doctors at the hospital immediately confirmed molestation, following which the parents rushed back to the police station to lodge a complaint. The girl was subsequently admitted to the same hospital for treatment.
The police through their investigation zeroed in on some suspects. They showed the girl the pictures of these suspects, and she pointed to two of her teachers, identifying them both as "dushtu sir" or "bad sir".
These two are PT teachers Avishek Roy and Md Mofizul. They have since been arrested by the police, and charged under Sections 4 and 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act.
Protests and politics
Since the incident, protests have been held in front the school demanding immediate action against the two teachers.
"This is a big school, they take crores of rupees in donation but there is no surveillance. Not a single CCTV. How is that possible, especially after the same thing happened three years ago?" a parent has been quoted by NDTV as saying.
Demands have also been raised for the arrest of the principal of the school. However, she has shrugged off these demands, saying: "I can't say why the CCTV was not installed. We will do it by the end of this month." She added: "We also need some time to find out what happened."
Meanwhile, political parties have extended their support to the family of the girl. A Congress representative reportedly visited and commiserated with the protesters outside the school on Friday.
Several leaders from Left parties, including MLA Sujan Chakraborty and councillors Runki Naskar and Debashish Mukhopadhyay, also visited the girl's house and said they stand with the family of the victim.
Then, on Sunday, BJP leader Locket Chatterjee visited the girl and her family with some chocolates. The actor-turned-politician said she too was there to extend her support to the family, and not for any political reason.
