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Three-year-old girl sexually assaulted in Nainital school bus: Police
Nainital district magistrate said the authorities would issue notices to all schools on strict implementation of the Supreme Court guidelines for school buses.
A three-and-a-half-year-old girl was allegedly molested by the driver and conductor in a school bus over several days in Nainital district’s Kathgodam before the duo was arrested Friday evening.
“The accused Ratan Singh and Pradeep Joshi - the driver of the school bus - are being interrogated,” said Amit Shrivastava, city superintendent of police Haldwani.
Shrivastava said police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 against the two accused.
He said the girl is suspected to have been assaulted over several days. Her parents took her to a doctor on September 17 after she complained of pain in her private parts, the officer said.
“Captain (retd) Anil Gupta, a social worker, who came to know about the incident from the doctor who examined the nursery student, lodged a formal complaint. After that we approached the school authorities and got details of the driver and conductor,” he said.
The latest outrage comes days after the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in a boarding school in Dehradun came to light.
Shrivastava said a woman sub-inspector, Lata Bisht, has been appointed the investigating officer in the case and she tried to speak to the girl. “But the girl seems too scared,” he said. Shrivastava said the statements of the school authorities, parents of the girl and the doctor who examined her are being recorded.
The assault also highlighted a brazen violation of the Supreme Court’s guidelines on school buses. There was no attendant from the school in the bus.
Nainital district magistrate Vinod Kumar Suman said the authorities would issue notices to all schools on strict implementation of the Supreme Court guidelines for school buses. “Action will be taken against those not following the guidelines,” he said.
The BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha staged a demonstration outside the school on Friday after it became public that the conductor of bus lived in the school premise.
The incident has shocked people in the area with parents being worried for the safety of their children. CS Rawat, a parent from Nainital, said: “The Supreme Court guidelines on a woman attendant and CCTVs on buses are not followed by school buses in the area. We feel helpless as we can’t stop sending our children to school.”
In May this year, the Uttarakhand State Commission for Child Rights (SCPCR) wrote to the Uttarakhand government to assign the task of checking the violation of safety norms by school buses to police, if the transport department could not handle it. The child rights body during an inspection of school buses found they were not following the Supreme Court’s guidelines. In November 2017, the transport department too had issued a circular on strict implementation of the guidelines.
Suresh Singh Duseela, president Kumaon Bus Union Haldwani said there are around 500 school buses operating in the Haldwani area.
“This is a shocking incident. We should ensure a safe environment for our children. Authorities should ensure that there is a woman attendant in school buses and check the antecedents of drivers and conductors,” Duseela said.
