[ Tongam Rina ]
ITANAGAR, Nov 26: A warden at the Ramakrishna Mission School (RKMS), Narottam Nagar (Deomali), identified as Subir Sanyal, is in judicial custody following allegation of sexual assault on a six-year-old child.
Sanyal was the warden of the child and 39 other children. He was arrested on 12 November, following a complaint lodged by the parents of the child.
The investigating officer (IO) of the case informed that a case has been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The IO refused to give details of the case, stating that the procedure is being followed, while Tirap SP J Meena did not respond to queries from this daily sent via text message.
Tirap Deputy Commissioner PN Thungon said the bail petition of Sanyal was rejected on Monday, and that the next hearing has been fixed on 4 December.
Speaking to The Arunachal Times, Swami Achyutnanda of RKMS Deomali said the school has suspended the teacher, pending investigation.
“Allegation of sexual assault is being investigated by the Arunachal Pradesh Police, and the law will take its own course of action. We are fully cooperating with the investigation,” Swami Achyutnanda said.
“If Sanyal is found guilty, he will be terminated,” he said.
Speaking to this daily, the mother of the child alleged that the warden was let off a day after he had been arrested by the police, but was rearrested on 15 November at the intervention of the DC.
“I respect the school and acknowledge the contribution of the RKMS to further the cause of education in our state; but the fact is that my child’s life has been destroyed,” she said.
“We were left with no option but to take him out from the school for this academic year as he refuses to go back,” said the mother.
According to the mother, she got a call from the school on 28 September, a day before the school closed for vacation, asking her to take out the child as he was unwell.
The doctor in Deomali referred the case, following which the mother took the child to Dibrugarh in Assam.
“I took my child to the child specialist in Dibrugarh, who referred that he be taken to a surgical specialist. The doctors said it was a clear case that the child had been tortured or sexually assaulted.
“I thought my child had urinary tract infection. It never occurred to me that someone would assault a child,” she said.
The mother said the child had stopped eating, playing and conversing, and refused to tell her what had happened.
She recalled that she had earlier been called to the school on 19 September as her son had been complaining of stomach and back aches.
“On the night of 11 November, all of a sudden he told me what happened with him. I lodged the complaint with the police the next day,” she said.
