Mumbai:
Parents of students enrolled in a private school in Thane, near Mumbai, have alleged that their children were molested during a school visit. A police case has been registered and after a nine-hour protest by parents, the school has dismissed three teachers who accompanied the students. However, the parents are demanding that the school principal step down and the management be named in the matter.
The students had gone to a theme park in Mumbai on Thursday. The parents allege that around 10 students were molested by an employee of the company that arranged the vehicle during the bus journey.
The name of Tours and Travels employee Javed is included in the complaint lodged with the police. It has been alleged that the man had molested the students while serving them food in a moving bus.
After returning home, some girls informed their families and the matter escalated from there. Eight parents have lodged a complaint with the police and Javed has been arrested.
One of the parents said there were 40 children and three teachers on the bus and the tour was being managed by outsiders.
A parent said, “Parents were not told that outsiders, men, would be present, which is wrong. We thought they would be going in school buses with teachers. There was no CCTV in the bus.” His decision to allow the wards to leave was affected.
He alleged that the teachers are denying any kind of molestation and are also refusing to apologize for their negligence. He said, “They said they were keeping an eye and nothing like that happened. But eight or 10 girls wouldn’t be lying.”
In a statement, the school said it had launched an internal investigation and canceled “all future excursions with the tour company.”
“We ensure complete justice to the children who are traumatized due to this unfortunate incident,” the statement said.
