Pune police have registered a case against a preschool teacher and the institution’s founder-director after a three-year-old child was allegedly locked inside a toilet at a nursery school in Ghorpadi, with the incident also raising questions about CCTV preservation and safety oversight in early-childhood facilities.
The case was registered at Mundhwa police station on Monday, nearly a month after the alleged incident at the EuroKids preschool on B T Kawade Road. According to the complaint, the child, aged three years and four months, was allegedly confined between 11.15 am and 2.15 pm on September 8 after being accused of misbehaving in class.
The child’s mother, a 36-year-old professor at a reputed college, approached the police after collecting him from school and finding him distressed, Civic Mirror reported. The child allegedly told her that he had been locked in a toilet. Police said the mother questioned the teacher, who allegedly admitted keeping the child in the toilet for some time, stating that the child was being very mischievous and that no other place was available to keep him.
Mundhwa police station’s in-charge senior inspector Smita Wasnik said the complaint recorded the child’s account and the teacher’s alleged admission. “A case has been registered and further action will soon be taken according to law,” Wasnik was quoted as saying.
The complaint also raises concerns over access to CCTV footage from the preschool. The parents allegedly asked the management for the footage to establish what had happened. After repeated follow-up, they were shown footage on September 21, which the complaint says appeared to show the teacher locking the child in a toilet for some time.
The parents allegedly sought the footage again the following day but were told that the earlier recording had been deleted because newer footage had overwritten it. Police are investigating whether the CCTV recording was deleted and how the relevant evidence was handled. The delay between the alleged incident and registration of the case is also part of the circumstances now being examined.
Police sub-inspector Ranjit Mhaske, who is investigating the case, said offences had been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The case names teacher Manita Bedi and school founder-director Sonali Deshmukh.
The report said the school management had taken action against the teacher. It did not establish the nature of that action. The police investigation will determine the sequence of events, the conduct of the staff and management, and the status of the CCTV footage. No independent finding of guilt has been made at this stage.
