Van driver, helper molest two four-year-old girls in west Delhi

Two four-year-old nursery students at West Delhi’s Rajouri Garden were allegedly sexually abused over a period of time by the driver and helper of a private school van.

The incident is yet another in a slew of sexual offences against children in Delhi, which is already infamous as the ‘rape capital’.

Police said the parents of one of the girls filed a complaint on Tuesday evening alleging that the cab driver and his helper regularly molested their child and the other girl. However, the other girl’s parents did not file a complaint.

The accused driver Charanjeet Singh (32) and his helper Kulwinder Singh (29), were arrested for sexual assault and offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

The suspects were nabbed from their homes in West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar and Vishnu Garden, respectively.

A senior police officer said the girls go to a private nursery school in West Delhi and live in the same locality in Rajouri Garden.
About two-and-a-half-months ago, the parents hired Charanjeet’s school van to take the children to school and bring them back home daily.

The cab ferried only these two girls, he said.

The molestation came to light when the girl’s mother noticed changes in her daughter’s behaviour — she had become quiet and often refused to go to school by the van, said the officer.

“Even though her parents often asked her for the reason, the girl kept quiet for over a week. On Tuesday, she broke down in front of her mother. The mother consoled her and after that the girl narrated her ordeal. Her mother informed her husband,” said the senior officer.

The girl told her parents that the cab driver and sometimes the helper used to kiss them and touch them in an inappropriate manner, police said.

According to the police, Charanjeet allowed Kulwinder to accompany him in the vehicle and they took turns to molest the children.
“Even though the two arrested persons were not previously involved in any crime, we suspect they may have targeted more children in the past. We are questioning them to find if they had victimised other children,” the officer said.

The private van has been confiscated, he said.