The Bengaluru daycare case took an unexpected turn this week when the very person who brought the alleged abuse to light was taken into custody.
Police said the woman was arrested for circulating footage of the incidents, arguing that sharing such sensitive material amounted to an offence, regardless of the fact that it triggered the investigation in the first place, according to reports.
She had already spent time being questioned before the arrest, a stretch during which her relatives and several child-rights groups had pushed back, saying authorities were not being upfront about why she was being held.
A closer look into her background has since revealed that she lost her job at the facility soon after she first tried to raise the alarm internally.
According to Tilakesh Kumar, legal and probation officer with the District Child Protection Unit, her complaint to a supervisor went nowhere, prompting her to approach Child Helpline officials on June 25 with the video evidence.
The footage itself, which spread rapidly online last week, is said to show staff mistreating children as young as two. Five women who worked at the centre have since been arrested and booked under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, along with a criminal intimidation charge under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Investigators believe the mistreatment may have gone on for some time undetected, partly because parents and all Capgemini staff, had no access to the facility and were unaware anything was wrong. Capgemini has said the daycare was run by an outside vendor with no direct oversight from the company on hiring or daily operations, and has shut the centre for now while the inquiry continues.
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