Mumbai: I still don’t know where my child was for 80 minutes, says father of 7-year-old special child

The parents allege that the international school in Kharghar refused to help them learn more about the brief mysterious disappearance of their child. Representation pic

"It has been 94 days and I still do not know where my daughter was for the duration she went missing between classes," said the father of a seven-year-old special child. The Std II student of an international school in Kharghar, the girl was found in the peon's room on the ground floor on July 11. While the class teacher said she was missing for 1 hour and 20 minutes, the principal claimed she was found within 20 minutes.

The father, on whose complaint the Kharghar police filed an FIR against the principal and others on September 3, said the school declined their multiple requests for the footage of CCTV cameras. They wanted to understand how the child reached the ground floor from her class on the first floor. "My daughter cannot walk without support," he pointed out.

‘Insensitive school'

The girl's mother had visited the school after being told about the incident on July 11, and when she demanded to see the footage, she was allegedly asked to come on July 22.

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"The school management deliberately delayed their response and made sure that the July 11 footage gets overwritten with the fresh footage. Also, the principal initially told us that our daughter was missing for 20 minutes, but the teachers told us she was not seen for 1.20 hours," the father told mid-day.

The father said he also reached out to the higher authorities of the school, but was met with absolute insensitivity towards the matter. "One of the officials asked me: ‘what do you think; would anyone rape your child? Why are you escalating the matter?' I had no words," he said. The school administration has finally submitted the digital video recorder (DVR) of the CCTV cameras to the police.

While the police are yet to make any progress in the case, the girl is missing school. The parents have not sent her back to school since the day of the incident. On the day of the incident, the principal allegedly told the mother not to send the child without a shadow teacher.

‘She is missing school'

"My child has not been to school for 94 days. The school administration didn't act responsibly and didn't allow us to have a look at the CCTV camera footage to know exactly what happened. I am expecting justice from the police now, as the school authorities have shown neither humanity nor compassion," said the father.

mid-day contacted the school principal, but she refused to comment, saying the matter is under investigation. Calls and messages to the regional director of the school went unanswered.

Kharghar Senior Inspector Sandipan Shinde said, "We have taken the supplementary statement of the father and are probing the matter. The DVR of the CCTV cameras installed in the school has been seized and sent to Kalina Forensic Laboratory. We are awaiting the retrieval of the footage, because as of now, there is no witness to tell us for how long the girl was missing and how she reached the peon's room on her own."

July 11
Day the girl went missing