Gujarat woman booked for ‘molesting’ 3-yr-old boy at city school

FIR lodged under newly-enacted Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act

In perhaps the first case of paedophilia since the implementation of the Protection of Children from Sexual

Offences Act this year, a 21-year-old woman was today booked for allegedly molesting a three-and-a-half-year-old boy at a city elementary school where she worked as caretaker.

According to Sarkhej police, the woman had been molesting the boy for the past many days at Shaishya Kids Campus, located opposite YMCA Club on the S G Highway.

Police said the boy's parents came to know about the incident after noticing a change in the behaviour of the child.

"The boy was disturbed for several days. The parents kept asking him if something was wrong with him. On Tuesday, the boy narrated the incident to them after which the parents approached the police.

The boy has mentioned the name of the caretaker and an unidentified man working at the school," said Assistant Commissioner of Police Nirlipt Rai.

"Considering the sensitivity of the incident, we have lodged an FIR under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012. It's a new law and perhaps we have used this this for the first time in Gujarat," Rai said, adding that police were trying to record the statement of the child and the suspect.

Before filing the FIR, the parents had protested at the school premises along with many other parents. They demanded the school authorities to lodge the complaint, which was turned down.

"We don't believe that such an incident has taken place in our school. Children's protection is priority for us and we will cooperate with the police in investigation. The boy is the third child of the parents and they never had any such issues," said Parag Gathani, a builder and founder the school.

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