Delhi: Three-year-old nursery student sexually abused; school bus driver held

A three-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a bus driver at a private school in Bawana area in outer-north Delhi, police said on Monday.

The accused, who drives the school bus, has been arrested, they said.

According to the police, the incident came to light on August 19 after the child’s family noticed injuries to her private parts. When questioned, the child, a nursery student, allegedly told her mother about a “bad uncle” at the school who had been giving her chocolates.

On August 24, the child was shown photographs and CCTV footage from the school and she identified the accused, police said.

The man was booked at Bawana Police Station under sections 8, 10 and 21 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and section 74 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and arrested from school.

The matter was reported at the Bawana Police Station on August 24. The school where the alleged incident happened is in outer-north Delhi’s Pooth Khurd.

The accused, who has been driving a school bus for around eight months, was arrested the same day, police said.

According to an officer, the man allegedly followed the child to a bathroom before sexually abusing her. Preliminary investigation suggests that the child was abused four times.

The police also said they found videos of the driver giving chocolates to children on his phone.

“CCTV footage from across the school premises has also been taken into possession and is being sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for forensic examination,” the officer said.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the case.

The police also issued an advisory, noticing that some schools and private persons were engaging unverified persons and non-commercial or private vehicles for pick-up and drop of students without proper verification.

According to the advisory, all school managements have been advised to engage only police-verified staff, including drivers, helpers, guards and Group-D employees.

Schools have been advised not to hire unverified and non-commercial vehicles for transportation of schoolchildren and to use only registered commercial vehicles with proper permits.

Schools also must ensure they have functional CCTV coverage with backup and female staff are deployed to oversee children, it says.

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj attacked Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta over what he described as her “cold and insensitive” reaction to a string of sexual abuse and rape cases involving minors being reported from the national capital.

“Child R@pe Capital under lady CM. Yesterday’s news – A 3 yr old boy was sexually assaulted at play school. Today’s news – A 3 yr old girl sexually assaulted by her school van driver. Today’s news – A 15 yr old girl r@ped by bus staff in a moving bus. I am not saying that CM Rekha Gupta has r@pad these kids, but her reaction to such incidents has been very insensitive and cold,” Bharadwaj said on X.

He accused the chief minister of never meeting the parents of a three-year-old child who was allegedly sexually assaulted by the head clerk at a Janakpuri private school.

Gupta never called out the management of the school for siding with the accused, he also claimed.

“Her Govt and her minister @ashishsood_bjp did not register FIR against the school management despite enquiry report showing grave POCSO violations by school management. BJP is promoting a set of shameless influencers who would run social Media campaigns in favour of these R@pists,” his post read.