A Delhi Government enquiry into the rape of a five-year-old girl at Tagore Public School in Gandhi Nagar area, has found many glaring lapses on part of the school management. The Sub- Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Vivek Vihar who conducted the enquiry on the orders of Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot, said in his report
that entry into the school premises was unrestricted, especially for the non-teaching staff.
According to an official, the Minister had also directed the SDM to suggest measures to avoid such crimes in future on the school campus.
The SDM’s report has been forwarded to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for his perusal and to decide the further course of action, the official added.
The SDM’s report has listed many loopholes in the functioning of the school administration which failed to track the movement of minor children during school’s functioning. The report says, “There was unhindered access given to the accused to all the areas of school. The accused was working for the school, though formal appointment letter does not appear to have been issued by the school. The movement of the accused and other such non-teaching employees is required to be restricted so that he does not have any contact with the schoolchildren”.
“The room of the Nursery Class where the incident happened, should have been locked after the Nursery Class timings were over. Unlocked pitch-dark class room of the school facilitated the accused in his nefarious intentions”, the SDM mentioned.
“Non-coverage of the whole school building under CCTV Cameras reduced the deterrence effect. The accused had been working in the school for almost 2.5 years without undergoing any kind of verification and background check by the school authorities and the local police”, the SDM said in his report.
“The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has not taken any action against the school for undertaking classes in un-recognised areas of school building. The last Safety Audit was conducted by the School Inspector of EDMC in December 2016. However, the Safety Audit Report does not have any parameters with regard to the police verification of employees, installation of CCTV Cameras, entry/exit restrictions for unauthorised people etc”, the SDM concluded in his report.