GURGAON: Once reports of the rape of a four-year-old student on a school bus appeared in the media on Thursday morning, the school in question quickly issued a statement, accepting the veracity of the incident and that they had fired the temporary helper accused of the crime. Curiously, a group of parents claimed the school administration had denied the occurrence of such an incident, when the parents had gone to meet the administration, anxious about the safety of their own kids.
Earlier on Thursday, in an official statement to the media, the school said, "An incident of molestation took place in the bus while travelling back home. The moment the school found out about the incident, the school immediately reported the matter to the police and informed the parents as well." Soon after, the CEO of the school chain said, "The services of the bus conductor have been terminated from the school with immediate effect. Police has taken him in custody and proper action will be taken against him."
He added the school campus and its buses are under CCTV surveillance. The school also countered Wednesday's media reports, claiming a lady attendant was present in the bus at the time the rape allegedly took place. When some parents of other students went to meet the principal on Thursday morning, he assured them the school is adequately equipped to prevent such occurrences, and that it is taking additional safety measures.
However, parents who met other school administration officials, had a different tale to tell. According to them, the school denied any such event had taken place. "We approached the school worried about our kids who study there. They told us all media reports are false and that no such incident had taken place. They even called up a parent of the victim, who denied the reports," said the mother of an eight-year-old student.
These parents also said the school appeared to go back and forth on their statements. "They first denied all media reports. Yet, they also told us they have fired the transport manager. When we asked why they fired him, if media reports were false, they failed to provide a convincing reply," said the mother of another student of the school. One parent, who had questioned the school officials about the safety of their kids, said, "We were told all buses have CCTV cameras and lady attendants, and that we have nothing to worry."
By Thursday, though, anger and fear had spread beyond the boundary walls of this school. Across Gurgaon, the fraternity of parents of school-going kids condemned the incident in one voice and demanded the school's licence be cancelled. "This is a horrifying incident that has left all parents in Gurgaon scared. We want the state education department to cancel the licences of such schools that are unable to safeguard the lives of our kids. We hope the Gurgaon administration and the state government will take appropriate action in the matter," said Tripti Singh, a parent.
Across social media platforms, the rape was the raging topic of discussion. Facebook groups, including Gurgaon Parents for Education, Gurgaon Admissions, Gurgaon Moms and Gurgaon Helpline, trended the hashtag #boycott[name of school].
"This is horrifying. Even little kids aren't safe, and that too in the school bus. Now our judiciary will take forever to pass a judgement on the case, and after that human rights groups will step in to give this guy a sewing machine and resettlement money," said an exasperated Shweta Jaiswal, another parent.
Another parent, Rahul, posted on Facebook: "What the hell? This culprit must be castrated and [the] school locked off too. If they can't even protect students in school buses, what are they doing?"