An unidentified employee of a private school in Sector 48, Gurugram, has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl on the school premises, police said on Tuesday. The incident, reported by the girl’s parents, came to light on October 24 when the child, seeing a delivery man at home, used hand gestures to indicate an incident that allegedly took place in the school toilet. Police said that even after several counseling sessions, they were unable to gather the exact timeline of the event from the minor.

After the parents informed the school administration, they reviewed the CCTV footage with the school authorities but were unable to identify the suspect. Following an inconclusive internal investigation, the school reported the matter to the police on October 28.

According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (Gurugram East) Mayank Gupta, the parents filed a written complaint the next day. “On October 29, an FIR was registered against an unidentified suspect under Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act at the Sadar police station based on the parents’ complaint,” Gupta added.

Gupta added that the Child Protection Committee held several counseling sessions with the child to gather information, but due to his young age, she could not provide definitive details about the suspect or the time of the incident. “While the child pointed to photographs of two potential suspects during identification, our inquiries with them did not yield any conclusive evidence,” he said.

A special investigation team headed by Kapil Ahlawat, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Sadar), has been appointed to handle the case. “We have seized all the CCTV DVRs in the school and are analyzing the one-month-old recordings to identify the suspect,” Gupta said. The investigation is also receiving support from crime branch and cybercrime officials.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a large group of parents protested at the school, accusing its administration of inaction and trying to cover up the issue. They called for the immediate suspension of the two suspects questioned by the police and expressed their frustration with the school’s handling of the situation.

The parents claimed the school discouraged the victim’s family from approaching the police, notifying law enforcement until two days after the incident and under threat of legal action from the family. In addition, the parents alleged that the school denied their request to gather support staff for the victim to identify the alleged perpetrator. (Now that the SIT is involved, do we know if there will be a live identification attempt?)

In response, a senior school official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two suspects were banned from the premises but not suspended as there was no conclusive evidence against them. “The police are investigating the case and we cannot comment further,” the official added.