Mangaluru: The Mangalore One school Chairman Sharat held a press conference at the Press Club on Friday, on May 29, and denied that a rape incident had taken place at the school. He said, “Rape allegations are baseless, and sheer ignorance of people regarding the incident has caused damage to the popularity of school”.
It may be recalled that about two months ago, a three-and-half-year-old baby studying in kinder garten in Mangalore One School in Ullal was sexually assaulted by the school van driver. The perpetrator was nabbed within few hours of the incident.
 
A campaign named ‘Justice for Baby Nirbhaya’ was started by the public seeking closure of school. Owing to the pressure mounting on the government and police department, the case was recently handed over to the CID by the state government.
 
“The school never tried to protect the accused driver. Without knowing the fact, the public raised their voice against the school. However the case has been handed over to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the truth will be revealed through their investigations,” the chairman added.
 
Speaking further about the co-operation of the management to the investigation, he said that the school staff and management co-operated well with the police, Deputy Commissioner, officials of Education, Women and Child Welfare Department and will continue to do so in future.
 
“We were the first school to install CCTVs even before the government asked us to do. But to our bad luck when the incident happened those facilities were not of any use. The management reported the incident within half-an-hour of its occurrence and we never tried to cover it up,” he said and added that the school management is willing to provide free education to the victim if she wishes to continue her education in the same school.