'Drink Every Day. So?' Says Man Accused Of Raping Child At Delhi School

New Delhi: As Delhi grapples with the horror of the murder of a 7-year-old at Ryan International School, located in nearby Gurgaon, a five-year-old was raped in Shahdara by an employee of her school. The alleged assailant, who works as a peon, has been arrested.

The 40-year-old man, who has been working at the Tagore Public School in northwest Delhi for the last three years, the police said, had accosted the girl at lunchtime on Saturday.

After handing lunch boxes to the teachers, he had found the child in the corridor. "Vikas lured her with a candy and took her inside the empty classroom where he sexually assaulted her," said senior police officer Nupur Prasad.

The peon, the police said, had been drunk when he assaulted the child. He had also threatened her and asked her to keep quiet about the matter.

The crime was discovered when the child went home and complained of pain in her stomach. "Her mother noticed bleeding in her private parts... The matter was reported to the police after 3 pm," the officer said. The police identified the man after the child described her assailant as a "man wearing a cap" during a counselling session.
  Vikas has denied sexually assaulting the child. "There are cameras in the school premises... the girl should see and identify," he told reporters. Asked whether he was drunk, he said, "I have a quarter every day, so what?"

Demanding the school be shut down, he mother said, "Today, it has happened with my child. Tomorrow, it could happen to another child". The child's father works as a tailor in a readymade garments factory.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has ordered an investigation into the case. "Shameful. Won't be tolerated. Police doing its job. Ordered magsterial enquiry. Will develop protocol 4 all schools 2 ensure children safety (sic)," tweeted Mr Kejriwal.

The incident comes a day after a seven-year-old boy was killed, allegedly by a bus conductor, inside a toilet in Gurgaon's Ryan International School. The conductor, the police said, had tried to sexually assault the boy and slit his throat when he resisted. The family, however, has contested the claim and demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.