On 19th September, members of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and other Hindu organisations staged protests outside Radcliffe School in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The protests took place following the reports of the rape of a 3-year-old girl student in the school by the computer teacher Qasim Rehan. The school has also been accused of attempting to suppress the matter. Following the protests, the administration sealed the school. The agitated members of Hindu organisations and ABVP are demanding to cancel the school’s registration.
As per reports, there are around 150 students in the school. The incident took place on 16th September. The little girl had gone to the washroom located just 15 feet away from her class. Accused Qasim allegedly took advantage of the situation and raped her. The mother of the girl child came to know when she noticed injury marks on her private parts. A complaint was then filed at the local police station.
The school is located in Kamlanagar police station area of Bhopal. When the kid came back home, her mother, who happens to be a police constable, felt that her child’s behaviour was odd. She examined her child and found a wound on her private part. When the mother asked about the reason, the daughter told her about the ordeal and told her about the “bad touch” by Qasim.
#WATCH | Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: Bhopal Police Commissioner, Harinarayan Chari Mishra says, "A complaint was filed in the Kamlanagar police station regarding molestation with a 3.5-year-old girl…The accused in this incident is the teacher of the school who has been arrested by… pic.twitter.com/B1EfgqLNYK
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) September 18, 2024
Qasim is a computer teacher at the girl’s school. The parents rushed to the school and told the principal, management, and other staff about the incident. The girl’s family alleged that no one had paid attention to their complaint at the school and had not taken any action against Qasim. Looking at their behaviour, the family went to the police station and filed a complaint.
The police took cognisance of the complaint and registered an FIR under various Sections of Bharatiya Nayay Sanhita (BNS) and the POCSO Act. The police arrested Qasim and sent him to jail. Investigation into the matter is underway.
On the other hand, the school administration and principal Swati denied the allegations of suppressing the matter or ignoring the complaint. She claimed that she got the information about the incident from the police and not from the parents. Furthermore, she assured strict action against the accused.
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: A three-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a school teacher in Bhopal.
— IANS (@ians_india) September 18, 2024
The school principal Swati says, "I did not have the information earlier. The name of the accused is Qasim Rehan, he used to work in the IT department in our school…" pic.twitter.com/6EzSvW7VPa
Madhya Pradesh School Education Minister Uday Pratap Singh reacted to the incident and assured that the complaints regarding attempts to suppress the matter will also be investigated. He added if the allegations turned out to be true, the government would take strict action against the school management.
Qasim saw porn clip minutes before the incident
As per reports, while checking accused Qasim’s phone, the police found proof of him downloading over 100 porn film clips of child pornography. The phone has been sent for forensic investigation.
Reports suggest that the accused told the police that during his free time at school, he was watching a porn clip. Soon after that, he saw a child going to the washroom and sexually assaulted her.
Computer teacher Qasim Rehan reportedly told the police that he was keeping an eye on the girl child for the past 4-5 days and keeping a check on when she went to the washroom. On the day of the incident, he followed the girl to the washroom and sexually assaulted her there. The whole incident took around 2-3 minutes. The girl was sent back to the classroom after that.
After the girl went back to the class, he kept a check on her movement. When she again came out 30 minutes later, he had warned the girl student not to tell anyone about the incident and lured her with a toffee.
He claimed that a girl child was an easy target for him. He assumed she would not tell anyone about the incident but the girl child told her mother about it.
Notably, Qasim did not stop going to school after the incident. When he saw no action from the school, he thought nothing would happen to him. However, the next day parents of the victim filed a complaint leading to his arrest.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to investigate the matter. SIT chief Nidhi Saxena said that the parents came to the police station on Thursday last week. A support person from Bal Kalyaan Samiti was appointed for girl’s counselling. Her statements were recorded on video along with her parents’ statements. The police have assured that they are trying to send the case to fast-track court and submit the challan within seven days.
