Bengaluru City police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh on Thursday constituted a special team led by an officer of the rank of deputy commissioner to probe the alleged abuse of toddlers at a daycare centre run by IT giant Capgemini.
Police said videos showed children crying and being subjected to physical abuse and torture by caregivers at the Little Buds Day Care centre, meant for the children of employees working in the IT firm’s Brookefield office in Bengaluru.
The daycare centre has been temporarily shut after videos taken by a whistleblower, a former employee, went viral.
According to the police, videos have purported to show caregivers threatening toddlers, aged between two and three years, when they cried or caused disturbance. The complaint alleged that the women put children inside a front-loading washing machine, made them sit in a western-style toilet, sprayed water into their mouths using a toilet jet spray, locked them inside bathrooms, and threatened them to keep quiet.
The police have filed an FIR against five women employees of the daycare centre after a legal-cum-probation officer received the video footage. Singh termed the incident “serious” and told the media that stringent action would be taken against the employees who had abused the children.
“The names of five women staff of a daycare facility in an IT sector company have been mentioned in the complaint. We are going through the complaint and verifying the facts and videos that we have received. Whatever has happened is a very serious issue, and we will take strict action. We were not aware of this incident earlier, but as soon as we came to know about it, a case was registered,” Singh said.
He said that a woman officer of the rank of deputy commissioner and the joint commissioner (east) were probing the incident.
“Both she and the joint commissioner, east, are personally looking into this serious matter. More than immediate arrests, our priority is to ensure that the perpetrators do not escape. If anyone has supported them, or if this has been happening for a long time, all such acts will be brought to light. No one will be spared,” Singh added.
The police are also probing whether the abuse was a one-off incident or whether it had been happening for some time. The commissioner said the police would also examine other such daycare centres to check if they are operating according to local rules and regulations.
On June 29, the police filed an FIR against Vijayalakshmi, Manjula, Sindhu, Bhavani and Bindu, the five caregivers at the daycare centre. The FIR was filed after Tilakesh Kumar, a legal-cum-probation officer, received videos of the purported abuse and lodged a police complaint.
After the issue snowballed into a major controversy, Capgemini issued a statement: “Our foremost priority is the health, safety, and well-being of our employees and their families. We’re cooperating fully with the investigation. Also, the facility has been temporarily closed as a precautionary measure.”
There is a lack of clarity on whether the daycare facility was directly managed by Capgemini or by an external agency.