The parents of a four-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually abused by two teachers at her school in Kolkata requested a Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP to leave a demonstration being organised by a group of parents on Tuesday.
Hundreds of people, mostly parents of children at the G.D. Birla Centre for Education, have been protesting outside the school premises since the incident came to light on December 1; the victim was a student of the school.
BJP MP Roopa Ganguly had arrived at the school at Ranikuthi on Monday evening and stayed till late night. She came again on Tuesday morning and joined protesters at the school gate who were demanding the arrest of the school principal, Sharmila Nath. However, the girl's parents soon approached the MP.
Folding his hands, the father of the girl, told Ganguly, “Madam, please leave the place. I know that you have been here to join the protest with us. Kindly don’t politicise the movement of us parents. I am grateful to hundreds of parents who took my side and joined my protest. They are pained at seeing you at the gate. I am afraid of losing my support.”
The BJP MP looked perplexed when both father and mother of the girl were asking her to vacate the place for the guardians to fight the case.
“We know you are here to do some good for us. But if you would like to show us compassion, then please come to our house. I have never asked anyone not to come. Many politicians have visited my house. But please don’t politicise our movement,” the child's father told Ganguly with his wife at his side.
Ganguly, who looked perplexed after being approached by the parents, said she did not want to go to the house of the girl as she felt it would not be proper to create a commotion at the house, especially as the child was ailing.
“Since you are not liking my presence here, I am leaving the ground. I thought that I should join you in the movement and bring the principal to justice. But as you have other things in mind, I am quitting,” said Ganguly before driving back to her house in the morning.
Meanwhile, Nath went to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar on Tuesday and was interrogated for several hours. The police had asked her on the previous day to come to the headquarters with the official documents of the school.
A case was registered against Nath at the Jadavpur police station under the POCSO Act and under sections related to criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code.
The principal was questioned on her role in the child abuse case and why she defended the two arrested teachers instead of conducting an inquiry against them.
The girl’s father said, “My daughter is still shivering in pain and wakes up in the middle of the night. Her wounds are grave. She had a congenial heart disease. The doctor said that the wound will heal. But I am sure the injuries she suffered in the hands of teachers would not heal in her life.”
