The statement of the four-year-old student who was sexually assaulted by two teachers in 2017 was one of the most crucial pieces of evidence submitted in the court, police said on Thursday.
The two teachers were pronounced guilty by an additional sessions judge’s court on Wednesday.
Several police officers who were involved in the investigation told The Telegraph that although there were no direct witnesses to the case, the child’s statement and the medical reports were the vital pieces of evidence which they submitted in the court.
An officer who was part of the probe team said: “There were no CCTV cameras inside the school to establish the presence of the teachers or the child inside the washroom. But the girl in her statement identified the perpetrators.”
The prosecution’s case was also strengthened by the statement of a guardian who had told the police that she had seen the girl coming out of the school crying.
“The witnesses who deposed in the case include the girl, her parents and at least one guardian who saw the girl coming out of the school crying, doctors who examined the girl separately and police personnel who spoke to the girl in the presence of her parents and lawyers,” said another officer of Kolkata police’s detective department.
The police said they had submitted the statements of 27 witnesses in their chargesheet, of whom 21 deposed in the court.
The chargesheet was submitted in April 2018.
The teachers, who had faced custody trial, were found guilty of gang rape and aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
Public prosecutor Shibnath Adhikary said the physical education teachers, Abhishek Roy and Mohammad Mafisuddin, were convicted under Section 376D of the IPC and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act in the additional sessions judge’s court. The quantum of punishment will be announced on Friday.
The maximum punishment for conviction under the two sections is life imprisonment.
Roy and Mafisuddin are lodged at Baruipur jail.
Advocate Kaustav Sil, who represented Roy, said they were yet to get a copy of the court’s order. “We are contemplating challenging the order as we have found several lapses in the police investigation that went against my client,” Sil said.
“We want to highlight why even after seizing the phone of my client, the police did not use it to establish his location at the time of the alleged commission of the crime.”
Md Abubakar Dhali, who represented Mafisuddin, said they intended to move higher court after getting a copy of the judgment and the quantum of punishment is announced.
Mafisuddin is originally from Asansol and Roy from Santiniketan.
