Bengaluru- The Kuki babysitter abuse case registered at Mico Layout Police Station against Indian Institute of Management Bangalore faculty member Professor Amar Sapra and his wife Anshu Sapra has taken a significant turn, with the Bengaluru police issuing a second notice to the accused couple after they failed to respond to the first. The investigating officer has indicated that the inclusion of SC/ST Atrocities Act provisions in the FIR is now under active consideration following the submission of key documents by the victim.

Meanwhile, a child labour angle has emerged in the case, adding yet another serious legal dimension to what is already a grave matter. IIM Bangalore, however, continues to maintain a troubling silence with no action taken against the accused professor even as the case deepens.

The complainant, a 23-year-old woman from Churachandpur, had alleged that Prof Sapra and his wife have been abusing her since June 2021.

The woman was employed as a nanny and lived with them on the IIMB campus in Bilkenahalli. She alleged that she was not fed properly and was physically assaulted repeatedly even when she was unwell. She wasn't even given medicines, her phone was confiscated and her messages were scrutinised by the couple. The complaint was registered on May 6.

Seilalmuon Haokip, President of the Kuki Students' Organisation Bangalore, confirmed to The Mooknayak that on Monday, the victim's birth certificate, caste certificate, Aadhaar card and bank statement were formally submitted to the Mico Layout Police Station. These documents are crucial to the case, as the absence of such records had been cited as the reason for the non-inclusion of SC/ST Atrocities Act provisions at the time the FIR was originally registered on May 6. The FIR, as it stands, contains only two sections under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 115(2) relating to voluntarily causing hurt and Section 127(2) pertaining to wrongful confinement, provisions that activists and community leaders have consistently argued do not adequately reflect the gravity of the alleged crimes.

Haokip said that with the required documentation now formally in police hands, KSOB has pressed the investigating officers to invoke the relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act without further delay. "At the time the complaint was lodged, the documents had not yet been submitted, which is why those sections were not imposed then. Now that the formalities and evidence have been provided, there is no reason for the police to hold back," he told The Mooknayak.

The Mooknayak spoke with Srinivasan, the investigating officer handling the case, who confirmed that he had received the required documents and would be consulting his senior officer to discuss the inclusion of the atrocities clauses in the FIR. The officer's statement signals a meaningful shift in the trajectory of the investigation, one that could significantly enhance the legal weight of the case against the accused couple.

A potentially decisive legal dimension has also surfaced in the case. It has come to light that the victim, Naina (name changed), was a minor when she was first sent to work as a domestic help at the Sapra residence in 2019. This fact, now backed by the birth certificate submitted to the police, means that the complaint could also attract sections related to child labour, opening yet another front of legal liability for the accused.

On the question of the accused couple's non-cooperation with police, Srinivasan said plainly, "Neither the professor nor his wife has shown up yet after our first notice, so we have sent them a second notice. They have been asked to come on Wednesday, and if they fail to appear, needed action will be taken."

When Others Acted, Why Is IIM Bangalore Looking the Other Way?

While the legal process inches forward, IIM Bangalore's institutional inaction has become a matter of sharp public criticism. Despite The Mooknayak sending two separate communications to the Director-in-charge Prof. U. Dinesh Kumar seeking details of any internal action initiated against Prof. Amar Sapra, no response has been received. The institution's continued non-action and silence over the matter, has outraged not just the Kuki community but also wider civil society.

The contrast with how other premier HEIs have handled faculty misconduct makes IIM Bangalore's silence even harder to defend. In 2021, IIT Kharagpur suspended Associate Professor Seema Singh after a fact-finding committee found her guilty of hurling casteist abuses at SC/ST students during an online class, swift institutional action that sent a clear message of zero tolerance.

More recently, IIT Ropar placed an accused faculty member on forced leave with immediate effect after a PhD student alleged physical assault and molestation, with the institute ensuring that the complainant could continue her academic work without disruption, fear or pressure of any kind.

And in yet another case, in May 2025, IIT Roorkee went a step further and outright dismissed a senior professor following the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings over a sexual harassment complaint by a researcher, reaffirming its commitment to upholding the highest standards of professional ethics and institutional integrity.

In each of these cases, the institutions acted, imperfectly perhaps, but visibly. IIM Bangalore, by contrast, has not initiated any known internal action against Professor Amar Sapra, even as a tribal woman alleges six years of abuse within its own campus premises, raising an uncomfortable question, is the silence a failure of process, or a deliberate exercise of institutional privilege to protect one of its own?

Haokip said that KSOB is now seriously considering staging a protest outside the IIM-B campus in response to the institution's conspicuous silence. "We have a meeting tomorrow and will discuss this with our team. This is shameful of a prestigious institution like IIM to tolerate and accommodate someone who has acted so inhumanely with a poor girl," he said, his words reflecting the deep frustration building within the community over what many see as institutional shielding of the accused.

' She was a devoted and loving caretaker'

Ironically, even within the IIM-B campus, there is a quiet wave of sympathy for the victim. A source from within the campus, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Mooknayak that Naina was widely regarded as a warm, devoted caregiver who had dedicated herself entirely to looking after the Sapra family's child. "She was always seen carrying and caring for the child while the parents were away at work. She was more like a second mother to that child," the source said.

The source also revealed a deeply disturbing detail that over the past six months, Naina had approached multiple people on campus and confided in them about the mistreatment she was enduring at the hands of the accused couple. Yet not a single person came forward to help her. This revelation raises uncomfortable questions about the culture of indifference that allowed her suffering to continue within the boundaries of one of India's most celebrated academic institutions.

Naina herself remains in a fragile emotional state. She is currently staying with a distant relative in Bengaluru who has agreed to accommodate her for another week while the police complaint progresses. "She is under great stress and wants to go back home badly, but looking at the police complaint, we have convinced her to stay for a little more time," Haokip told The Mooknayak. He added that KSOB has coordinated with the investigating team and that the police have asked them to bring the victim in on Thursday for her statement to be formally recorded. "Once her statements are recorded, she may hopefully be allowed to leave," he said, expressing cautious optimism that the formal process would be completed swiftly so that Naina could return to her family in Manipur.

The case now moves toward a decisive moment. Wednesday will be crucial, if the accused fail to present themselves before the police even after the second notice, the investigating team has indicated that firm action will follow. Whether the SC/ST Atrocities Act clauses are formally added, whether child labour provisions are invoked, and whether IIM Bangalore finally breaks its silence, all these remain the defining questions of a case that has already exposed deep fault lines of power, privilege and impunity at one of India's most prestigious institutions.

The Mooknayak will continue to follow this story closely. This report will be updated as and when further developments take place.