SURAT: An auto-rickshaw driver was today arrested here after he was caught "sexually assaulting" a 5-year-old girl whom he ferried to and from the school, police said.
Om Prakash Pandey, the accused, was caught on a mobile video camera touching and harassing the girl despite her resistance on the passenger seat of his auto-rickshaw near the school before taking her back home yesterday.
Pandey was arrested early this morning after the police registered an FIR against him under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and section 354 of the IPC (molestation).
The matter came to light after a passerby, Ajaysinh Rajput, recorded the act on a mobile phone and called the police control room. The school administration was also informed about the incident.
The accused, however, was initially allowed to go after he signed a written undertaking before the school authorities stating he will not repeat the act. Police registered a case only when the video went viral.
"We called the parents and the principal of the school before filing the FIR," inspector P K Patel of Khatodara police station said.
"The accused has been taken into custody and further investigation is on," he said.