BANGALORE: Police have arrested two gym instructors over the alleged rape of a six-year-old girl at a top school, a crime that has sparked protests by outraged parents, a senior officer said yesterday.
Police in the southern city of Bangalore seized the pair late Monday after acting on information from a roller-skating instructor who was arrested last week over the crime, which has provoked fierce debate over children’s safety in India.
“We have arrested the two culprits working as gymnastics coaches in the Vibgyor High School,” Bangalore police commissioner MN Reddi told reporters.
“During preliminary investigation and interrogation... (the pair) admitted to have committed the heinous crime in the school premises, which has turned out to be a case of gang rape,” he said.
“The child had identified the main culprits and the CCTV footage shows them forcing her to stay back after all other students left the gym classroom.”
Reddi also conceded that the roller-skating instructor, who was paraded before the media last week, was not directly involved in the alleged attack. He was still being detained after he was discovered with a laptop containing child pornography.
Hundreds of parents and political activists have led protests over the July 2 attack with some who attempted to storm the school beaten back by police officers.
The child was allegedly assaulted in a classroom of the school, a top fee-paying institution favoured by local politicians and businessmen.
India is especially sensitive to cases of sexual violence after the 2012 fatal gang-rape of a student on a moving bus in New Delhi which led to a public outcry and new tougher laws to deter rapists.
Meanwhile, police yesterday arrested three men suspected of gang-raping a 16-year-old at gunpoint and filming the attack in New Delhi, the latest in a series of sexual assault cases in the country.
The girl was on her way to school on July 19 when four of five suspects, three of whom are juveniles, took her to the house of the fifth man and allegedly attacked her.
“Police have arrested Pramod and his two minor accomplices while a manhunt has been launched to nab Surendra Pehalwan and the other minor accused,” said a senior police officer, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
The accused told the victim they would post the footage online if she tried to report the crime.
“The matter came to light yesterday (Monday) when she experienced some problems and told her parents about the incident,” the officer said, adding that police made the arrests hours after the parents filed an official complaint.
The incident comes just a week after a seven-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree in a village in West Bengal state. Locals suspect she was raped.
The attack bore a chilling resemblance to the fatal gang-rape of two girls, aged 12 and 14, in late May in northern Uttar Pradesh state, where they were found hanging from a tree.
In 2012, the fatal gang-rape of a student on a moving bus in New Delhi led to a public outcry and tougher laws to deter rapists.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised a “zero tolerance” approach.
But violence against women is deeply engrained in some segments of Indian society, activists say, while government crime statistics show one rape is reported every 21 minutes.
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