BHOPAL: A three-and-a-half-year-old nursery student of a prominent school in Bhopal was allegedly sexually assaulted in the school bus by the driver in presence of the woman attendant.
Four days after the incident took place, the driver and the caretaker were on Monday arrested and booked under relevant sections of the POCSO Act.
The school is under scrutiny for allegedly trying to cover up the incident.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also written to the Bhopal district collector, seeking a report within three days.
The school education department has also constituted a three-member panel to probe the incident and the school’s laxity.
The crime came to the knowledge of the child’s parents on Sept. 8 when they noticed that her outfit had been changed to the spare dress kept in the school bag.
When asked, the girl told them that the “bus uncle” changed the dress.
However, when the parents checked the additional set of clothes in the bag, they did not find it soiled.
Upon further questioning, the student said that the driver “badly touched” her body, including private parts.
The parents then recalled that she was complaining about pain in private parts around a week back too.
They reported the matter to the school administration on Sept 9.
However, on finding that the school was not acting fast enough, they approached the police on Monday.
According to sources, the CCTV installed in the bus wasn’t working.
Meanwhile, state’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra said, “The school management will be questioned by the police and on being found wanting, action will be initiated against them.”
State’s Culture and Tourism Minister Usha Thakur also reacted to the incident, and said, “The BJP government has been sensitive to such crimes, as MP was the first state in 2017 to pass a bill to award capital punishment to those convicted for raping girls aged below 12 years. Also, the government has worked to fast-track the hearing of such cases. But real change will only happen when moral standards are enhanced by the society as a whole.”
Blaming the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, Congress leader Hina Kaware said, “Mere framing of laws won’t help, their proper implementation is needed. The present state government is insensitive to this aspect. We will raise the issue in Vidhan Sabha.”