Five-year-old girl tells parents about ‘bad touch’, cops detain school watchman’s minor son in Madhya Pradesh

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A teenage boy was detained for allegedly sexually assaulting a five-year-old kindergarten girl student on the premises of a school in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam city, police said on Sunday (September 29, 2024).

The accused is the son of a watchman at the private school, where the victim is a UKG (upper kindergarten) student.

The incident came to light after the girl told her mother about the “bad touch” by the boy, a police officer said.

“The accused is a student of class 10 with another branch of the same school. An investigation was conducted after the girl’s mother lodged a complaint that her daughter was sexually assaulted in the school where her daughter is a UKG student. The accused boy has been taken into custody,” said Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Khakha.

The boy has been booked under sections 65-ii (Whoever commits rape on a woman under twelve years of age) and 75 (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita apart from the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Also read: Teaching minors ‘good or bad touch’ not enough; educate them on ‘virtual touch’: Delhi High Court

The incident allegedly occurred in the watchman’s room on the third floor of the school building and was reported by the girl to her mother on the night of September 27, the police officer said.

The school has CCTV cameras covering only the ground floor and not the upper floors, he said.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari expressed anguish and accused the BJP government of failing to protect daughters.

“The news of a tragic incident with a five-year-old girl in Ratlam has deeply disturbed me. Such incidents happen with our daughters every day in MP. I am deeply pained,” he stated on ‘X’.

“Daughters will not get justice by just asking for help from the government on social media. Now the Congress party will fight this battle on the streets,” he said.