3-year-old’s sexual abuse: Accused yet to be held

BHOPAL: Police are yet to arrest anyone in the sexual assault of a three-year-old preschooler although a medical test confirmed the horror.A family member of the child told TOI, “We had admitted our girl to the playschool on February 8. We requested the school owners for a cab for pickup and drop but the woman running the school told us that her husband does this. So, for the first three-four days, one of her uncles took her to school and back after which the school owner took over. A week later, the child complained of extreme pain in her private parts to her mother.”On Shivratri, the family noticed that she was unable to walk properly, the relative said. “When her mother asked her about it, the child said that the person who used to pick up and drop her had ‘hurt her’. She said he took her to a house where he ‘threatened her with scissors’,” she said. The family approached Kolar police station on February 24 but were allegedly turned away. “The cops demanded the child’s statement. She did so, but police still didn’t find it enough to register a complaint. Station house officer Gaurav Singh Bundela said they needed more ‘details’ and will visit our home in plainclothes for a repeat statement,” she said.Police didn’t turn up the next day, the family says. In the evening, they took the girl on their own to JP hospital for a medical test and discovered to their horror that she was sexually assaulted. “The doctor was horrified too but she couldn’t gave us a medico legal certificate. She wrote on her note that the child has swelling and bruises in her private parts,” a kin said.On February 26, they went to the playschool to tell the director about her husband’s alleged misdeeds. “The director was not ready to listen to us. We had a heated argument with the couple and they called police. We all went to Kolar police station and finally managed to convince them to do the medical test of our child. It took us almost four days to make police understand that the toddler has been sexually assaulted,” said a family member.SP-south Siddharth Bahuguna said, “We have handed the case to crime branch. It will be investigated by women officers for more efficient handling. However, we have not arrested anyone yet as we need to verify about the actual culprit.” TOI tried to contact Bundela and ASP-crime Rashmi Mishra but they were unavailable for comment.\