In a horrifying incident, a five-year-old girl was repeatedly raped by a sweeper at a private school in South Delhi. The little girl was raped for several days before she told her parents that her abdomen was hurting. They took her to the doctor after which they found injuries on her body. The doctor suggested that she could be raped after conducting a medical examination.
The parents then informed the police about the possibility of rape. The girl spoke to a counsellor from an NGO and confessed that the sweeper at the school used to take her to isolated locations in the campus for many days, Hindustan Times reports.
After the parents of the five-year-old girl informed the school authorities of the incident, other parents have also stepped forward stating that their children were sexually abused by the sweeper.
The sweeper has been arrested and has been charged for rape and booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
"The sweeper had been taking the girl to isolated spots in the school building to abuse her since early this month. On one occasion, he took her inside the school's washroom. The CCTV footage shows him accompanying the girl to the washroom and then walking out with her," a senior investigator told HT on the condition of anonymity.
The sweeper was asked to switch off the water cooler, whose main switch was in the girl's washroom. This took place on Monday, August 5.
The school authorities handed the sweeper over to the police immediately after allegations of his rape came up. The police, in turn, questioned the school why they allowed a male to enter a girls' washroom. The school said that since he was asked to switch off the cooler, he entered the washroom but the place is out of bounds for him otherwise.
The sweeper is a father of three daughters and one son and lives with his family in a slum close to the school.
Delhi police officers have also advised schools, especially the pre-primary primary sections to vigilantly monitor CCTV footage in real-time.
