Hundreds of socio-political activists and parents yesterday staged a massive demonstration against a private school in the city’s eastern suburb where a six-year-old girl student was allegedly raped twice this week by a teacher.

Seeking severe punishment for the suspect and stringent action against the school for the horrifying crime in its premises, many parents said the management was not forthcoming on what safety measures it had taken to protect their wards.

“Ever since similar incidents happened in a couple of schools in the city recently, we asked the school chairman what measures had been taken to ensure safety of our wards. Though he claimed to have implemented the safety guidelines, the same incident occurred in this school too,” S Geetha, a mother-of-two, said outside the school.

Of the four closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in the school premises, only one was working while the others were defective, a parent alleged.

“The cameras also do not cover the entire school complex, especially first and second floors of the building, rest rooms and the whole playground. Only two guards are seen at the main gate while no maids are posted inside to ensure safety of girl students,” another parent said.

Meanwhile, suspect Jaishankar, 38, a Hindi teacher at Cambridge School, was arrested late Thursday, hours after the victim’s mother lodged a complaint in the local police station about her daughter being sexually abused on October 28-29 in the school premises.

“We will present the suspect in a local court to seek his custody for interrogation. We are waiting for the victim’s medical report from the state-run hospital in the city where she was examined for the sexual assault to investigate the case,” additional commissioner of police (law and order) Alok Kumar told reporters near the school.

A criminal case was registered against the suspect under Sections 4 and 6 of Pocso Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012) and Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the complaint, based on the girl’s version.

According to the complaint, on returning home from school on Wednesday evening, the girl told her mother that her teacher physically abused her on Tuesday and Wednesday when she was alone.

“We will record the girl’s version of the incident before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) after she recovers from the trauma she went through. Female staff of the probe team will also counsel her to recall what happened, when and where in the school premises,” Kumar said.

Though the school management declared yesterday a holiday, hundreds of students turned up to attend classes and had to return home early while parents and relatives of other wards stayed back to meet the management.

About 200 police personnel were deployed around the school, located in a residential colony, to maintain peace and prevent any untoward incident.

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