NEW DELHI: The last three years have been most traumatic for this Delhi mother and her seven-year-old daughter. The child was sexually assaulted by a boy in her kindergarten class during school hours on November 17, 2017.
Her legal fight has led to a court taking cognisance of the case and summoning the chairman and director of a private school in Dwarka under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act on February 24, 2021.
The charge includes willful neglect as a result of which cruelty was inflicted upon the child.
“The court order has come as some relief to me and my daughter. I see some hope in her eyes, who still has so many unanswered questions. She still gets nightmares and hesitant in so many things, and it becomes difficult as a mother to see her child in such a traumatised state. I have full faith in the judicial system and will make sure the guilty will be punished, and no other child should go through what I am going through every passing day,” says the mother.
The girl had complained of pain in her private parts after returning from school. The next day around midnight as the pain became unbearable, she revealed the shocking details of the assault to her mother.
An FIR was filed on November 19, 2017, one of the girl’s classmates took off her undergarmets and put his finger inside her private parts.
The FIR also says the child allegedly tried pushing him away but to no avail and also could not ask for help as no staff member, including the class teacher, was around. The co-teacher had left the class to an ayaah (assistant).
Accusing the school management of laxity, the parents had alleged that a school teacher and school coordinator, on being told about the incident, feigned ignorance and offered no concrete assistance.
The school principal, too, did not provide any help.
The lawyer of the complainant, Anshul Narayan, said, “It has taken us nearly three years to convince the court that the chairman and director are also liable to be made accused in the case as whatever happens in the school is their responsibility as well.”