The daycare operator claims two former caregivers were dismissed before the videos surfaced and later tried to blackmail the management. Police are investigating both the alleged abuse and the competing claims made by the institution.
Police have booked five caregivers after videos allegedly showing toddlers being mistreated at a daycare centre inside a Bengaluru IT campus surfaced. Capgemini has temporarily shut the facility while the investigation continues. | X/@rahuljaitley
The organisation running the daycare at the centre of the Bengaluru infant abuse controversy has rejected allegations of institutional wrongdoing, claiming the viral videos were part of a revenge-driven conspiracy by two former employees who had been dismissed for workplace misconduct.
In a detailed statement, Little Scholars alleged that the two caregivers were terminated before the videos surfaced and later attempted to extort money from the management. The institution said it is cooperating with the police investigation while maintaining that the allegations against the organisation are false.
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According to the daycare, two employees, identified as Sujata and Vijayalakshmi R, were dismissed after they were involved in a physical and verbal altercation during working hours.
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The institution said the incident took place on June 25. It claimed proprietor Ramandeep Kaur ordered their immediate termination under the organisation’s zero-tolerance policy and directed that their identity cards and other company credentials be taken back.
Little Scholars alleged that the two former employees later conspired to pressure the management into reinstating them.
In its statement, the daycare alleged that the dismissed employees secretly brought mobile phones into the facility in violation of its security rules.
It further claimed the women deliberately took infants to areas outside CCTV coverage and created distressing situations to record videos.
The institution alleged the clips were initially used to blackmail the management and secure re-employment. It claimed the videos were released publicly after those demands were rejected.
Little Scholars’ legal counsel, Adithya Krishna Pandey, described the alleged abuse as a retaliatory act carried out after the employees lost their jobs.
“Looking at the innocent souls being tortured and tormented in the way that they were, and though the videos were recorded mischievously, they were still recorded and brought out. It was basically an orchestrated torture that was done by the ladies involved in the same, as they were terminated from their services (at the daycare centre) for their non-compliance with the rules and regulations of Little Scholars, such as the most important one being no verbal conflicts in front of the children.”
“Upon termination of the service, it seemed like a retaliatory act that they committed. The extortion attempts were made by the supervisor and her friend. We are cooperating with the investigation and waiting for that to come to an end to bring these mischievous ladies to justice so that the atrocities that they have committed against the children do not go unchecked,” he added.
Little Scholars proprietor Ramandeep Kaur said the organisation and its corporate client, Capgemini, should not be blamed for the incident.
“Little Scholars & Capgemini are not at fault here. Those who are at fault should be punished. Manjula had informed me about warning Sujata and Vijaya (daycare employees) who always engaged in verbal fights at the daycare over their personal issues. This incident has affected my business. Rs 2.5 lakh was demanded from me by one Mahendra, whom the police called a fraud.”
The institution said it is extending full cooperation to investigators.
The controversy erupted after videos purportedly showing infants being mistreated at the daycare operating on the Capgemini campus surfaced online last month. Police have registered a case and are investigating the incident. The allegations levelled by Little Scholars against its former employees have not been independently verified.
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