Sexual assault of two minor boys: DCW issues notice to police, DoE

New Delhi: The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal on Monday issued notice to police and the Directorate of Education (DoE) in connection with the sexual assault on two minor boys by their schoolmates.

“A 13-year-old boy, who is a class eight student of a government school in Rohini, was allegedly sexually assaulted by other students of the school. He has informed that in April 2023, he attended school during summer camp wherein some students forcibly took him to a nearby park and sexually assaulted him for seven days,” said a DCW official.

In another incident, in the same school, a 12-year-old boy was also sexually assaulted by the students during the April 2023 summer camp. “He has further alleged that around 16 days back, a student again tried to sexually assault him in the toilet,” said the officials.

Both of them have alleged that the accused threatened them not to disclose the incident to anyone.

“The victim further told DCW that he had narrated the incident to two of his teachers in July and August, but they had asked him to not talk about the incident to anyone. The Commission has been informed that the parents of the boy learned about the incident around 6 days ago. When the mother of the child went to the school, the principal allegedly asked them to not talk about the incident to anyone,” said the official.

In her notice to the police, Maliwal enquired about the status of arrests made in the matter. “The Commission has also sought details of action taken against the school principal and teachers and has asked whether FIR have been registered under the POCSO Act for allegedly not reporting the matter to authorities. The Commission has sought the copy of orders passed by the concerned Child Welfare Committee in the above matters,” said the official.

Further DCW has asked the Directorate of Education to provide an inquiry report in the matter.

“The Commission has also asked whether the principal and the teachers of the school have been suspended for not reporting the incidents to authorities. The Commission has sought details of guidelines framed by the department for counselling of students and reporting of cases of sexual assault in the schools,” said the official.

With inputs from IANS