Two daycare staff arrested in Bengaluru for alleged abuse of toddlers

Two daycare workers were arrested in Bengaluru after videos allegedly showed toddlers being abused at a childcare centre operating on an IT company campus. Police launched an investigation, while the state government and the company assured cooperation and strict action

Bengaluru: Police have arrested two nannies of a daycare centre run on the campus of an IT firm here for the alleged abuse of toddlers. Police sources said Manjula and Vijayalakshmi were arrested after an FIR was registered following the videos of the alleged abuse going viral.

The investigating officer said they were identified during the video verification process, leading to their arrest. They were produced in court, which remanded them to 14 days’ judicial custody.

---

According to police, the purported videos showed caregivers threatening toddlers, aged between two and three years old, when they cried or caused disturbance.

It is alleged that the women put children inside a front-loading washing machine, made them sit on a western-style toilet, sprayed water into their mouths using a toilet jet spray, locked them inside bathrooms, and threatened them into keeping quiet.

Capgemini, the IT firm on whose campus the daycare centre operates, said in a statement that its foremost priority is the health, safety and well-being of its employees and their families.

“We are cooperating fully with the relevant authorities and assisting them in their efforts to establish the facts,” it said in the statement.

Commenting on the incident and the subsequent arrest, Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge said the state has zero tolerance for such incidents.

He said the incident is not only about affecting the reputation of that company but also the ‘Brand Bengaluru’. “We have already sought clarification from the company through our department,” the minister told reporters here.

He added that such large and reputed companies have their own policies, which are not limited to India but are global standards. “They are expected to function according to those policies-how creches should be run, how nurseries should be managed, and how daycare centres should operate,” Priyank said.

The minister explained that the companies have their own Standard Operating Procedures, which were overlooked. “They should have carried out proper verification and different kinds of background checks. I believe that was not done,” he said.

Priyank said he was awaiting the company’s written explanation and stressed that no organisation should allow such incidents to occur. Matters involving toddlers, he added, must be handled with the utmost responsibility.

“What has happened is truly a matter that makes one hang one’s head in shame,” he said. The minister added that the Department of Women and Child Welfare has guidelines on how daycare centres should be run and managed.