Van attender held for molesting kids at international school

Police said the parents of a minor girl studying in the school on noticing certain behavioural changes in her, enquired about her discomfort following which she revealed about the attender in the school bus molesting her. 

Following this, they reportedly checked with the parents of the other kids travelling in the bus who also complained about similar behavioural problems in their children. On Thursday morning, when the van arrived, the parents confronted the attender Bhaskaran, dragged him out of the van and thrashed him. 

Later, he was taken to the school premises and over 200 parents staged a protest. The police who rushed to the spot arrested Bhaskaran under the POCSO Act and handed him over to the Poonamallee All-women police, who remanded him in judicial custody. 

Police sources said that according to preliminary inquiry, Bhaskaran had sexually abused the kids in the bus ever since the school reopened and threatened the kids saying they would be bitten by snakes and other insects if they told their parents about the abuse. Further investigation is on. 

When contacted, activist A Narayanan of Change India told DTNext, “With respect to child abuse, we should focus on making children aware of how to avoid it. Sex education will help, but many schools still don’t want to consider it. Sex education also means making them aware of sexual abuse. It can be started with good and bad touches for kindergarten kids. Proper screening of workers will act as a deterrent. There is still a lack of awareness among parents and teachers and not many know of child helplines despite it being on all textbooks. According to Right to Education, kindergarten schools should be within one kilometre of the residence, but it is not followed.”