An 11-year-old girl in India’s capital Delhi says she was gangraped in a school washroom by two older boys from the same school.
The incident was brought to light after the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) issued notices to the school authorities and Delhi police.
According to the DCW notice, the incident took place in July when the 11-year-old girl was going to her classroom when she bumped into two boys who go to the same school and study in class 11-12, making them between 16 and 18 years old.
The girl said to the commission that she had apologised to the boys, but they abused her and subsequently took her to the bathroom, locked it from the inside and raped her.
The girl also said that she had informed a teacher about the incident, but the matter was allegedly “hushed up.”
In a statement DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal said: “We have received a very serious case of gangrape with a… student inside a school in Delhi. The girl has alleged her school teacher tried to hush up the matter. It is very unfortunate that even schools are unsafe for children in the capital.
“Strict action must be taken in the matter. Also, an enquiry into the role of school authorities must be conducted on the issue… The commission has asked the school principal to inform as to when did the school authorities learn about the matter and what action was taken by them.”
The commission has asked the Delhi police to file an FIR (first information report), which is the first step in any police probe in India.
It has also asked the school authorities to take action against the accused.
However, no arrests have been made yet.
District commissioner of police (DCP) for New Delhi, Amruth Guguloth, told The Indian Express that they had received a complaint and immediately registered a case under sections of sexual assault and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
And a senior police official insisted to The Hindustan Times that there was no delay in filing the case.
“There was no delay in registering the FIR. A case under Section 376D (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as under relevant sections of the POCSO Act has been registered and investigation has been taken up,” the official, who did not want to be named, was quoted as saying.
