Mangaluru: Better late than never as they say, Chairman of Mangalore One School, Sharath Saxena, a retired DGP decided to hold a press meet at Mangalore press Club to clarify on the molestation of Nursery School girl of Mangalore One School-Thokottu. To recall the incident which took place on March 13, 2015, where a nursery (LKG) student of the school was sexually assaulted allegedly by driver of the school van. The girl being a Muslim, and the driver being a Hindu had created some tension and communal disharmony in that area. Many Muslim organizations have stressed on closing down the school, since no action has been taken against the driver, either by the police nor the school management. To clarify on this issue on the management side, Chairman Saxena addressing the media persons said :
“Regarding the incident lot of allegations have been made against the school management by some activists and organizations, which I say are baseless and false. These allegations have risen due to two main reasons- 1) Pure ignorance of people regarding the incident 2) Deliberate attempt to cause damage to the school mainly by our competitors. To put the record straight the school management is providing 100% true facts : In response to the allegations that the Management is interfering in investigation to protect accused driver- this is Totally false. Management never wanted to protect the accused. Also the management cannot protect the accused & what they say has no value anyways! The police at highest level (viz CID) is conducting investigation. The CID will definitely do the Justice. The accused has been in jail already for over 75 days, and he will be charge sheeted if found guilty on evidence. That’s all”.
“That the Management is negligent in the commission of offence – This also is totally untrue. All government departments (including Police, DC, Education and women child department) have conducted enquiries against the school. Nobody found any negligence of the school” added Saxena. He further said, ” I also want the public to note that : The management took all reasonable precautions to prevent such incidents. Our school was the 1st school to install CCTVS in South Mangalore (even before the government asked us to do). But to our bad luck the incident happened like a sudden lightning”.
“The accused driver had no previous criminal record and there were no complaints against him in the past; The management reported the incident within ½ hour of its occurrence. The management never attempted to cover up the incident. To management justice is much more important than bad publicity!; To the victin girl child, we are committed to provide free education: if she joins our school. Finally to us every child is equally precious irrespective of his religion or caste. And we have taken all measures to ensure that such an incident never happens to any child of our school again”.
Speaking to mangalorean.com, Chairman Sharath Saxena said, ” I have been a DGP for four years, and I know what criminal laws- I have punished many criminals who had committed various criminal acts. My wife is a former IAS Officer, and presently Chairman of Karnataka State Human Rights Commission. I also come from a well respected family. Just because I am a retired DGP, doesn’t mean that the law enforcement officials are supporting me and handling the case slowly. I am also a ordinary citizen just like everyone. I have not taken any influence from ant law enforcement officials- I am fully cooperating with them to bring this to justice and punish the right culprit. But allegations made by some organizations on me are very hurtful and also baseless”
“I even had made arrangements to meet the mother and the child the very next day and assured our fullest support in solving the case, and extend any help from our side. We were ready to offer free education to the child in our school. Now we have a lady escort in each our school bus or mini van. More CCTV cameras will be installed. I openly say that our management has done nothing more- some bad elements are spoiling our school name. The issue has been communalized and politicized. We need the support from the media and public to solve this issue. Justice will prevail soon. God will be on our side. I am glad that we have scored 100% in the CBSE exams”
Principal Navya, Headmistress Nayan, and educationist J M Shaheed were also present during the press meet.
