The Bengaluru creche incident where little toddlers were being abused and harrassed has sent shockwaves across the city.
The shocking incident had taken place on Wednesday at the Little Buds Day Care Centre within Capgemini's Bengaluru campus, where children of those working at the IT major were abused by the nannies employed at the centre.
Though an FIR has been registered by the Bangalore police against many nannies, till now, no formal arrests have been made in the case.
The police have sent video clips of the abuse to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for further verification. The FIR names caregivers Manjula, Vijayalakshmi, Bhavani, Sindhu and Bindu.
They have been booked under Section 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, based on a complaint filed by Tilakesh Kumar.
On being contacted by THE WEEK, Capgemini’s team forwarded a statement via mail stating that “Capgemini's foremost priority is the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees and their families".
"We are cooperating fully with the relevant authorities and assisting them in their efforts to establish the facts. As a precautionary measure, we are temporarily closing the Bengaluru on-campus daycare facility, which is managed by an external provider,” the statement added.
As of now, the IT firm has not yet issued any other formal comment on the matter.
When contacted by THE WEEK, a Capgemini employee said on condition of anonymity that after this incident, the Capgemini management would now be more vigilant than ever before to prevent such incidents in the future.
“It's a matter of options and trust. We have seen news about children preyed on by individuals charged to protect earlier too in schools, by teachers and in school buses,” remarked the employee.
THE WEEK also spoke to a couple of HR experts who expressed their anguish at the incident.
“From an HR perspective, a crèche being 'not up to the mark' is treated as a child safety and compliance issue, not a routine service concern. A corporate should immediately conduct an urgent safety and compliance audit (often via third party) and if risk is confirmed, temporarily suspend operations. The corporate should also arrange safe alternatives for employees (backup childcare, WFH, emergency leave). Ensure clear communication to parents without delay and review vendor performance and accountability if outsourced,” Priya Manoj, a Bengaluru-based strategic HR advisor, told THE WEEK.
She further added that the responsibility ultimately rests with the company, even if the crèche is outsourced.
“HR, Admin, and EHS teams are jointly accountable for monitoring and safety compliance. The Capgemini case cannot be termed neglect without investigation. At most, it points to a possible gap in monitoring, escalation, or vendor oversight, depending on facts and prior complaints. Overall, the focus should be on corrective action, safety assurance, and restoring employee trust, not blame attribution at the first stage,” said Manoj.
Experts say that a workplace crèche is built on trust and is of the utmost importance to parents.
“For working parents—especially mothers—a crèche delivers value only when they have complete confidence that their children are in safe and capable hands. Organisations should therefore have robust governance mechanisms, including clearly defined service standards, regular and surprise audits, CCTV monitoring where appropriate, parent feedback channels, and periodic reviews by HR and leadership. Childcare cannot be treated as a one-time compliance requirement—it requires continuous oversight and accountability,” said Aditya Narayan Mishar, CEO and MD, CIEL HR.
As per reports, the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh has said that a special team, led by an officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), has been formed for the probe.
He also informed that the police would collect details of the different creches run by companies across Bengaluru, and would ensure that they were following all the rules.
