Parents in Gurgaon gathered outside the Ryan International School, where a 7-year-old child was brutally murdered a bus conductor, who allegedly attempted to sexually assault him before slitting his throat.
“Killer attempted to sexually abuse 7-year-old schoolboy,” PTI quoted police as saying.
Demands are also growing for the revocation of school’s licence as Ryan International has been accused of failing to ensure child’s safety in the school’s other branches too. Last year, a child was found dead in a water tank in its Vasantkunj branch in Delhi.
Meanwhile, Jyoti, the mother of the murdered child, asked, “The school could not even ensure basic safety for my son, how will then parents send children to school?”
She told ANI, “My son did not even know the bus conductor as he never traveled in bus,we used to drop him and pick him.”
Jyoti’s husband, Varun Thakur, also met the Gurgaon Police Commissioner on Saturday morning asking for stringent action against the school management.
According to some media reports, the toilet, where Pradhuman Thakur was murdered, was used by students, peons and bus staff.
Some students had found lying in a pool of blood in the washroom.
“The students alerted the teachers and the school management then informed police, who rushed him to Artemis Hospital. He was declared brought dead by doctors,” Ravinder Kumar, PRO Gurgaon Police, said.
The boy’s father, who works as a quality manager with Orient Craft in Gurgaon, accused the school administration of negligence.
“They told me his health deteriorated suddenly. They did not take care of my son. He could have been saved if he had been taken to hospital in time,” he said.
“I dropped him today at around 7:30 a.m. He was happy,” the grieving father said.
In March 2015, the school had hit media headline when its management forced it teaching staff to enrol themselves as BJP members by formally joining the party.
Managing director Grace Pinto had confirmed the membership drive to Times of India but said it was “absolutely voluntary”. But, staff who defied the diktat had their salaries withheld.
“It is sad if the staff has said that they were compelled to take up BJP membership. The management never asked students and parents to join BJP,” she said. Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha president Kamaljeet Sehrawat had then said that Pinto was now the Morcha’s national secretary.