The matter came to light on 18 October last year when the parents approached the police with the complaint.
Parents also alleged that the accused was just a driver, however he was entrusted with other school responsibilities. (Supplied)
A fast-track court at Nampally in Hyderabad on Tuesday, 18 April, sentenced the diver of a Hyderabad-based DAV school’s principal to 20 years in prison for child rape, six months after the case came to light.
Rajani Kumar was convicted of sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl studying at the DAV Public School in Banjara Hills in the city.
He was arrested on 19 October, 2022, for sexually assaulting the girl for two months.
The school’s Principal S Madhavi Reddy was also booked for negligence in restricting his driver’s access to the classrooms.
She was also arrested in the case on the same day as the police took Kumar into custody, but was acquitted by the court.
The matter came to light on 18 October last year when the parents of the girl approached the police with a complaint.
According to the police, the victim’s mother saw behavioural changes in the girl, aged four and a half years, over a period of three months.
Having joined the BSD DAV Public School merely five months before the incident came to light, this Lower KG student told her mother she was afraid of going to school and was suffering from pain in her legs.
The police said she opened up to her mother on 17 October, identifying Rajani Kumar as the one who had been tormenting her.
The accused used to press her neck, slap her, and threaten her that she would be killed if she dared to say anything at home.
The parents approached the school management soon after they came to know about the horrific incident.
When they didn’t get an adequate response, they filed a police complaint at the Banjara Hills police station.
The parents said the digital room where the assault happened was right across from the principal’s cabin. Even other kids complained about being taken into the digital room by Kumar.
Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under Section 376 (AB) of the IPC and Section 5 read with Section 6, as well as Section 21 of the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The parents also alleged that the accused was just a driver, but was entrusted with other responsibilities at the school.
The DAV College Managing Committee — the non-governmental educational organisation that helps run hundreds of Dayanand Anglo Vedic (DAV) schools, colleges, and even a university — terminated A Prathipan, the director of its Hyderabad-region schools on 21 October.
Also, the Telangana government initially ordered the derecognition of the BSD DAV Public School, and the shifting of its students to nearby schools.
It later decided to temporarily grant permission to run the school for the 2022-23 academic year as it would otherwise affect the studies of other students.
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