NEW DELHI: A 6-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a labourer deployed for construction work at a school in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. The girl narrated her ordeal before the class teacher but her complaint fell on deaf ears.
The police investigation revealed that the class teacher along with the school headmistress and school supervisor kept the incident hidden and helped the accused labourer to escape.
Sharing details, a senior Noida Police official said the family of the victim lodged a complaint at sector 24 police station alleging that their daughter was inappropriately touched by a labourer working at her Modern School, sector 12.
The police, based on her complaint, registered an FIR under sections 74 (outraging women's modesty) and 263 (obstruction to the lawful apprehension of a person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 7 and 8 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and began probing the matter.
During investigation, the police found out that the assault took place within the premises of Modern School, sector 12, on September 3 where the victim girl was studying.
According to the official, the victim immediately informed her class teacher about the incident who then informed the school principal Preeti Shukla but they did not act on the complaint.
"The probe revealed that the headmistress and class teacher in connivance with the school supervisor Basant Pandey, without informing anyone, hiding the incident and supporting the accused, allowed him to leave the school premises," the official said.
As per the officer, the contractor who had appointed the accused labourer had also played a role in allowing the accused to escape from the spot.
Following this, the police, after registration of the case, arrested the accused class teacher, school principal and school supervisor. "The search is on to trace the prime accused labourer for which multiple teams are working. We will catch him at the earliest," the official added.