Who Is Watching Your Child? Bengaluru Daycare Horror Puts Spotlight On India's Creche Laws

Last Updated:July 02, 2026, 09:55 IST

Unlike schools, hospitals or even restaurants, India's private daycare sector operates under a patchwork of laws with no single national regulator or licensing framework.

The Bengaluru daycare abuse videos are difficult to watch. Toddlers being shoved inside a front-loading washing machine. A child sprayed in the mouth with a toilet jet. Others reportedly locked inside bathrooms as punishment. All of it unfolding inside what parents believed was a safe childcare facility at an IT campus in Bengaluru.

The allegations, which have led to an FIR against five caregivers (nannies) at a daycare operating inside Capgemini’s HAL campus in Bengaluru, have shocked parents across India and reignited uncomfortable questions about how private daycare centres are regulated – and whether anyone is actually watching the people entrusted with the country’s youngest children.

For millions of urban working parents, daycare is no longer optional. With nuclear families becoming the norm and both parents increasingly working full-time, childcare centres have become an essential service. Yet unlike schools, hospitals or even restaurants, India’s private daycare sector operates under a patchwork of laws with no single national regulator or licensing framework.

Fast-Growing Sector With No National Regulator

India does not have a comprehensive central law governing private daycare centres or creches. Instead, childcare facilities fall under a mix of labour laws, state rules, child protection laws and general criminal law. While government-run Anganwadis operate under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme, private daycare centres are largely regulated through state-specific municipal or local rules, where they exist.

This means standards on infrastructure, staff qualifications, child-to-caregiver ratios, safety protocols and inspections vary significantly across states. In many cities, private daycare centres operate without any dedicated licensing framework specific to childcare.

Experts have long argued that while preschools often require recognition under state education frameworks, daycare facilities catering to infants and toddlers remain a regulatory grey area.

The Law That Covers Corporate Creches

One law that directly affects workplace childcare is the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended in 2017.

Section 11A of the Act requires establishments employing 50 or more employees to provide a creche facility, either on their own or through a shared arrangement. Mothers are also entitled to visit the creche four times during the day, including rest intervals.

However, the law primarily creates an obligation on employers to provide access to childcare, it does not lay down a detailed nationwide regulatory code governing how every creche should function, who should staff it, how frequently it should be inspected or what qualifications caregivers must possess.

Many companies, therefore, outsource childcare operations to specialised daycare providers. While employers remain responsible for complying with the law, day-to-day operations are often handled by third-party vendors.

The Bengaluru incident has once again highlighted an important question: where does accountability lie when childcare is outsourced but located inside a corporate campus?

Are Corporate Daycares Safer?

Parents often assume that daycare centres located inside corporate campuses undergo stricter scrutiny because they serve employees of large companies. But in reality, many workplace creches are operated by external childcare companies under service contracts. While employers may conduct periodic audits, there is no uniform national inspection mechanism exclusively governing corporate daycare facilities.

Industry experts have repeatedly pointed out that safety standards depend largely on the operator’s internal policies rather than statutory requirements.

The Bengaluru case demonstrates that even facilities located inside reputed corporate campuses are not immune from alleged abuse.

Which Laws Apply To Abuse At Daycares

If children are physically assaulted or illegally confined in a daycare, police can invoke provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with hurt, criminal intimidation, wrongful confinement and related offences, depending on the facts of the case. If sexual abuse is alleged, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act applies. The Juvenile Justice Act also provides for punishment in cases of cruelty to children and places responsibility on institutions caring for them.

That means the Bengaluru case is not only a workplace-safety issue. It is also a criminal matter, and possibly a child-protection case, if investigators confirm the allegations from the footage and witness statements.

Why CCTV Keeps Coming Up

Many daycare centres advertise CCTV as a safety feature, but India does not have one nationwide rule mandating cameras in every private daycare, nor a single uniform standard on retention, placement or parental access. In practice, CCTV becomes crucial only after abuse is suspected, which means prevention still depends heavily on operator discipline and external audits.

The Bengaluru case has therefore revived calls for mandatory CCTV standards, periodic inspections and a clear complaint mechanism for parents. Those demands are not new, but the scale of the outrage makes them harder to ignore.

Past Cases

Cases of daycare abuse have surfaced before, though they often draw attention only when CCTV footage or whistleblowers bring them to light. In November 2016, a 10-month-old girl was allegedly beaten and kicked at a Navi Mumbai creche; police arrested the caretaker and the owner.

In March 2024, Dombivli police registered a case after video reportedly showed a daycare staffer assaulting a three-year-old girl; the complaint reached police on March 18, 2024.

In August 2025, a 15-month-old girl in Noida was allegedly slapped, bitten and hit with a plastic bat by a daycare attendant; the incident came to light after the mother reviewed CCTV footage.

The Need Of The Hour

The Bengaluru case shows the limits of relying on reputation, location or corporate branding as proxies for safety. A daycare inside an IT campus may feel more secure to parents, but that does not substitute for licensing, inspection and accountability.

As India’s urban workforce grows more dependent on daycare, the real policy question is no longer whether creches are needed. It is whether the country is willing to regulate them with the same seriousness it applies to other child-facing institutions.

About the Author

Pragati Ratti

Pragati is a News Editor at news18.com. Having headed the Business and Viral sections, Pragati now ideates, writes and edits long-form features and articles on national and global affairs. She ensures...Read More

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