A daycare centre in India’s Bengaluru is under investigation after children as young as two and three years of age were allegedly subjected to abusive punishments, including being placed inside the drum of a front-loading washing machine, sprayed in the mouth with water from a toilet jet spray and locked inside bathrooms.
“The toddlers were made to sit in washing machines, water was sprayed into their mouths and they were locked inside bathrooms to silence them when they cried,” an official said, announcing that police have registered a case against five caregivers employed at the centre.
Earlier, video clips doing the rounds on social media purportedly showed the mistreatment the toddlers were subjected to, leading to a police complaint as well as a separate complaint filed with the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
The allegations have angered parents who had left their children at the facility while working at Capgemini, the IT company that housed the daycare, and have renewed concerns about oversight and safety standards at daycare centres run inside corporate offices.
In a statement, Capgemini said that that the health, safety and well-being of its employees and their families remained its top priority and that the company was fully cooperating with authorities investigating the matter.
It added that the on-campus daycare in Bengaluru was being shut down as a precaution while the case is investigated.
