The alleged abuse of toddlers at a daycare centre operating inside Capgemini’s Brookefield campus in Bengaluru has prompted the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) to propose stricter regulations for daycare centres across the city, even as the whistleblower who exposed the alleged abuse has been arrested for allegedly circulating videos of the children.
According to reports by The Times of India and NDTV, the KSCPCR has decided to make CCTV cameras with live-streaming access for parents’ mandatory at daycare centres in Bengaluru. The commission also plans to map all daycare centres in the city and formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prescribing minimum safety standards. The proposed guidelines are expected to require daycare centres to maintain first-aid facilities and implement additional child protection measures.
The regulatory push follows allegations that toddlers at the Little Scholars daycare centre, located within the Capgemini campus, were subjected to abuse by caregivers. The allegations include claims that children who cried were locked inside bathrooms and subjected to other forms of mistreatment.
On Saturday, Bengaluru Police arrested a second nanny in connection with the case. The woman, who had worked at the daycare centre for three years and was reportedly serving her notice period after being dismissed over alleged negligence, was also identified as the whistleblower who recorded and circulated videos of the alleged abuse.
Police alleged that she had recorded videos of children under suspicious circumstances, shared them with private individuals and deleted videos from her mobile phone. Investigators also stated that she gave contradictory statements regarding when and why the videos were recorded, leading officers to suspect that some of the footage may have been selectively filmed or staged.
She was produced before a local court, which remanded her to 14 days of judicial custody. She has since been lodged at the Central Prison in Parappana Agrahara.
The arrest came a day after police arrested a 55-year-old nanny on charges of allegedly locking a toddler inside a bathroom at the daycare centre.
According to the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the state’s child helpline received a complaint regarding the incident on the night of June 25. Following the registration of a police case, officials from the commission inspected the daycare facility. A team from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights also visited the centre as part of the ongoing inquiry.
The incident has raised broader concerns over the regulation and monitoring of daycare facilities operating in the state.
The whistleblower’s family members and activists had earlier expressed concern after she was taken in for questioning, alleging that police had not disclosed the purpose of the interrogation and questioning why she had been kept in custody for an extended period.
The videos circulated by the whistleblower allegedly showed children as young as two years old sitting inside the drum of a front-loading washing machine while caregivers sprayed water on them using a jet spray. Another video purportedly showed children being locked inside bathrooms by daycare staff. The footage went viral on social media, leading to a police complaint and a separate complaint before the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
According to officials cited by NDTV, around 50 to 60 children were enrolled at the daycare centre, with approximately 15 to 20 attending on any given day. A district child protection officer reportedly stated that caregivers at the facility had likely been systematically abusing young children entrusted to their care by employees of the global technology consulting firm.
Police have so far arrested two daycare employees, identified as Vijayalakshmi and Manjula, after stating that substantial evidence had been collected against them. Officials indicated that further arrests are likely as the investigation progresses.
Following the emergence of the allegations, Capgemini temporarily shut down the on-campus daycare facility. The company stated that the health, safety and well-being of its employees and their families remained its highest priority and that it was fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation.
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