Lift mechanic held for molesting three minor girls

The police arrested a 27yearold man for allegedly molesting three minor girls inside the premises of a reputed international school in Bhandup Meanwhile the family of one of the girls has demanded that strict action also be taken against the school for lapses and failure to cooperate after the alleged incident came to lightAccording to the police the incident had occurred on November 27 near the schoolrsquos basement ldquoThe accused had molested three minor girls near the staircase of the basement of the school We have registered a case under POCSO and are investigating furtherrdquo the police saidThe accused is a lift mechanic and had entered the school premises to carry out the maintenance of the lift He isnrsquot an employee of the school ldquoThere is no lift in the basement of the school However he was present there while the girls were in the basement for yoga classes CCTV footage of the staircase near the basement shows that one of the girls has been touched inappropriately Based on the footage and statement of one of the victimrsquos mother an FIR has been registered and the accused arrested on the day of the incidentrdquo the police saidMeanwhile a relative of one of the girls alleged that the school had not cooperated ldquoAfter the incident the girl informed the teacher that the accused had molested her However the teacher turned a blind eye and even told one of the victims not to tell anyone what had happenedBut one of the girls told her parent about the ordeal When we went to the school after that they did not cooperate and didnrsquot provide the CCTV footagerdquo said the relative on condition of anonymityAccording to the relative the school authorities tried to convince the girls not to talk about the incident ldquoNow they have asked us to give a written letter that states the school has cooperatedrdquo the relative addedMushtaq Shaikh education officer North Zone confirmed that the school principal and administration were uncooperative during the inspection ldquoAs soon as the issue came to light I immediately assigned two of our officials to visit the school and I personally visited as well However the school principal was not at all cooperative The purpose of the visit was to verify whether the school had implemented the necessary safety measures whether mandatory student safety protocols were being followed and to check if the mandatory SakhiSavitri committee had been established We have requested CCTV footage from the school and also visited the local police station to get a copy of the FIR Following this our officials will submit their report and appropriate action will be taken based on the findingsrdquoThe accused is a resident of Diva He is originally from Odisha and has no past criminal record ldquoThe incident occurred on November 27 near the schoolrsquos basement Three minor girls were molested near the staircase of the basement and the accused was caught there We have registered a case under POCSO and are investigating furtherrdquo said Senior PI Dattatray Khandagle Bhandup police