New Delhi: Hundreds of parents gathered around the NDMC school at Gole Market where police force was seen trying to maintain law and order on Friday after a man was arrested by Delhi police for raping a 6-year-old girl inside the school premises. Agitated parents, mostly women, were seen climbing up at the school walls and banging its iron gates to demand better security for their children. The shocking incident came to light when the class-II student girl narrated her ordeal to her parents once she reached home. When the parents found her bleeding they took her to the hospital and lodged a formal complaint with the police.
The police took help of counsellors to talk to the traumatised girl to ascertain the identity of the accused. During the interaction, the girl said a man wearing "red T-shirt took her inside the pump room". "The accused has been identified as Ram Asre and has been working in the school for around a month and is a permanent electrician employed with the NDMC," said Madhur Verma, DCP New Delhi.
The police have pressed sections of rape and POCSO against the accused. He was produced in the court on Friday and sent to judicial custody. Sources said that after the girl finished her classes on Wednesday and was waiting for her sister who studies in the same school, it was then the accused Ram Asre lured her to the water pump room where he sexually assaulted her.
Meanwhile, the DCW on Friday sent notices to the police and the school's authority, asking them to inform it about the safety measures at the institute.
Calling for strong action against the accused, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal asked if a background check of the electrician had been done and whether there were safety measures such as CCTV cameras in the school.
"The DCW issued notices to the Delhi Police and the school's authority to ascertain safety measures implemented in the school," she said. DCW Chairperson said, "Children are increasingly becoming unsafe even inside the schools. There is an urgent need for schools to implement stringent rules and regulations to ensure safety of children. Strongest action should be taken against culprit who should be hanged within six months under the new law."
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), too, issued notices to Delhi government and the police seeking a detailed report in the alleged rape of the class-II student at school premises in upscale Gole Market. Taking a serious note of media reports of the incident, which took place on Wednesday, the NHRC observed that it amounts to violation of the victim's human rights. According to a statement released by the human rights panel, it has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and the Commissioner of Police seeking for a detailed report in the matter within four weeks.