BHOPAL: Three days after the shocking incident of three and half years old nursery student having allegedly been sexually assaulted in the school bus by bus driver in presence of a woman caretaker was reported, the Bhopal police have started specific investigations into the school management’s role in the case.
Members of Bhopal Police’s special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe the case, spent hours at the prominent school on Thursday, recording statements of all possible staff members in connection with the case, particularly the school’s failure to put in place fully operational CCTV cameras inside the bus (in which the alleged incident happened on September 8) and timely report the matter to police, even after coming to know about it from the little girl’s parents on September 9 only.
Thursday’s development happened just after the state’s chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, reviewed the progress of investigations in the case and questioned top police brass of Bhopal, about why action wasn’t taken against the school, when it was found wanting in many key aspects, pertaining to security provisions in the bus as well as timely reporting of the alleged crime to the police.
“Call the school management and take action against it for whatever lapses have been committed by it. This isn’t a small incident, but a serious incident, which pertains to the safety and security of all school children in the city. We need to send a strong message across to all schools that any lapses and compromise with students' safety will not be tolerated at any cost,” the CM reportedly told the top brass of Bhopal police at the meeting to review the case’s probe.
“Irrespective of the prominence of the school, action needs to be taken against its management in case of lapses in students safety,” the CM asked the police officers, while also questioning what was the School Education Department doing in the matter, to ensure safety and security of students of all schools in Bhopal and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, as per informed sources, the police has got enough evidence to nail the school management (particularly the school’s owner and principal in the case) over the non-operation of the CCTV cameras installed on the bus and the delay in reporting the alleged crime to the police.
Importantly, the parents of the nursery student girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted had informed about it to the school management on September 9 only (just a day after the shocking incident), but instead of reporting it to Bhopal police, the school management preferred to be inactive in the matter.
With the school management not reporting the incident to the police, even three days after coming to know about it, the girl’s parents reported the crime to Bhopal Police on September 12, after which the cops not only booked the bus driver and the bus’s woman caretaker under IPC Sections and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act but also arrested the duo the same day.