Capgemini shuts Bengaluru creche after viral abuse videos; to reassess all facilities across India

Following allegations of abuse of young children at its on-campus nursery in Bengaluru, Capgemini said it had temporarily closed the facility, taken “concrete actions” in the last two days and re-evaluated all nursery providers in India.

In a detailed note following heartbreaking viral videos showing caregivers torturing children, the IT firm said the situation was being treated with the utmost seriousness.

Also read: Capgemini Nursery Bengaluru: Police book 5 workers over child abuse allegations

“The situation reported at the nursery in Bengaluru, operated by external provider Little Scholars, is being treated with the utmost seriousness. While the authorities carry out their investigations, we have taken a number of concrete actions over the last 48 hours, including the immediate temporary closure of this nursery facility in Bengaluru for investigation.

We are re-evaluating all our nursery providers across all our sites in India,” the company said.

Daycare providers are subject to “rigorous due diligence and compliance checks,” the company said.
Capgemini said it was providing support to affected families, including access to a helpline facility, tailored counseling through the company’s Employee Assistance Program and work-from-home options.
The statement comes after the Bengaluru police on Friday arrested two nannies, Manjula and Vijayalakshmi, over allegations of molestation of minors at the Brookefield campus facility.
After videos of the alleged abuse surfaced online, an FIR was first registered against five female employees following a complaint by the Child Protection Officer. The detained persons were sent to the courthouse for 14 days.

Also read: Capgemini nursery horror: Young children allegedly stuffed in washing machines, locked in bathrooms and sprayed with toilet jets

According to police, the alleged videos show caregivers threatening young children, ages 2 to 3, when they cry or become upset.

The complaint alleged that the women put the children in a front-loading washing machine, made them sit on a western-style toilet, sprayed water into their mouths with a toilet jet, locked them in bathrooms and threatened them to remain silent.

Reacting to the incident, Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge stated that the state has zero tolerance for such actions and this negatively affects the ‘Bengaluru Brand’.

Large companies have global standard operating procedures for running nurseries and these appear to have been overlooked, he said, adding that apparently proper verification and background checks were not carried out by the firm.