‘Eyes swollen, eardrums damaged’: 3-year-old ‘assaulted’ by Delhi play school attendant

An attendant at a playschool in north-east Delhi was arrested and a teacher was served a notice by the police, after a three-year-old boy was allegedly “assaulted” at the centre, the police said on Sunday. Police said that a case under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act has been registered against the attendant and the teacher.

According to the police, the child has undergone a medico-legal test and a probe is underway. The police added that the incident came to light on August 16 when the child’s parents noticed “bruises” on his arms and face.

“On August 16, I saw bruises on his face and arms. Two days later, when he came home, he started vomiting. We took him to an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) specialist. The doctor said his eyes were swollen. Some tests were run and it was found that his eardrums were damaged,” the boy’s father told The Indian Express.

The father also claimed that once he and his wife approached the school authorities, they allegedly refuted their claims, but “reluctantly agreed to share the CCTV footage”. “On August 26, we saw the footage. About 9.45 am on August 18, he was tied to a chair.

He was tied for three hours. He managed to open it… then was beaten up by the attendant. On August 17, he was slapped by the teacher,” the child’s father said. The family claimed that even on August 16, when the child was taken for a routine height measurement exercise, he allegedly “punched and slapped unnecessarily”.

“They were rude to my wife when she confronted them,” said the father. The FIR in the case names four persons, including the owner of the school and the principal, as the accused. On August 27, the family got a medico-legal certificate for the child and then got an FIR filed.

“He is so scared that he is not even going to the washroom. He hasn’t bathed since we took him out of the school. He refuses to leave his room. When we asked them why they roughed up my child, they said he was ‘hyperactive’.

Seriously?,” said the father. Delhi police sources, meanwhile, said that they are questioning the attendant, adding that the teacher will be questioned soon. Other school administrators, including the principal, will also be asked to cooperate in the probe.

“What if he had died? I have been shown CCTV recordings for just three days. I have no clue what they did to him before that,” the father also said. The school authorities were unavailable for a comment.