India school official arrested after outcry over girl's rape

Thursday, July 24, 2014

NEW DELHI -- Three weeks after a skating instructor was accused of raping a 6-year-old student in southern India, police arrested the chairman of her school Wednesday.

In the past week, thousands of parents in Bangalore have demanded that police not only make arrests in the case but punish the management of the upscale school for putting their children in harm's way. The privately run school -- with its attractive sports, gym and performing arts facilities -- is a favorite among the city's business families and upwardly mobile professionals.

Analysts said the case has also highlighted the problem of ill-governed, profit-chasing private schools mushrooming across India with little government scrutiny.

The first-grade student was purportedly assaulted inside the gymnastic room during school hours July 2, police said. Her parents found out about it days later and filed a police complaint July 14.

M.N. Reddy, Bangalore's police chief, said Wednesday that Rustom Kerawalla, the chairman of Vibgyor High, was arrested on suspicion of delaying the reporting of the rape, failing to protect children under his care and destroying evidence.

Public anger over a rise in sexual assaults has been growing in India since the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in 2012 in New Delhi. More than 12,000 cases of youths being raped were reported last year, a jump of 50 percent over the previous year.

An online petition by a parent in Bangalore asking the government to impose mandatory security measures at all schools had received about 150,000 signatures as of Wednesday evening from all over India.

On Sunday, police arrested the 30-year-old roller-skating instructor -- identified as Mustafa -- in the 6-year-old's rape. They said they found downloaded pornographic videos featuring children on his laptop.

"The title of one video itself is shocking: 'The rape of a child in school.' This shows his state of mind," said Raghavendra Auradkar, a senior police officer.

Officials at Mustafa's previous employer, Deen's Academy, said Tuesday that they had fired him in 2011 on suspicion of touching students inappropriately.

Parents in Bangalore are demanding that schools perform background checks on employees, install surveillance cameras in every building and conduct awareness sessions for students about "good touch and bad touch."

"Even if my 13-year-old daughter knows about good touch/bad touch, does a little girl really stand a chance to protect herself against an adult man?" said Chandrima Dutta, the mother of an eighth-grade student at Vibgyor High. "We must focus on prevention."

Meanwhile, the school has been closed since last Thursday.

"My daughter is very confused about all this," Dutta said. "She loves her school. She asks me, 'How can a teacher do such a bad thing?' Children trust their teachers. School is supposed to be a happy, safe place for young ones."

A Section on 07/24/2014