Five caregivers at a daycare centre inside global IT major Capgemini’s Brookfield campus in Bengaluru have been booked for subjecting toddlers in their care to physical and mental abuse.

Videos of the alleged abuse went viral on social media and show how children as young as two-years-old were made to sit inside a front-loading washing machine, locked inside bathrooms and had water from a toilet jet sprayed into their mouths.

The actions were reportedly carried out by the daycare centre employees as ‘punishment’ to the children who cried or made a noise.

The videos, according to early reports, were recorded between June 21 and 23 by a whistleblower whose services were terminated last month. Some reports suggest she was sacked after she reported the abuse.

Capgemini swiftly shut the on-campus daycare centre saying the move was temporary and that the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees and their families was a “foremost priority”. A company statement added that it was cooperating with the authorities to establish the facts.

Countering the motherhood penalty

The Capgemini incident could have far wider ramifications. In 2017, India’s female workforce participation rate at 24% was amongst the worst in South........

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