Autorickshaw driver in Mumbai’s Bhandup held for raping 9-yr-old he used to drop to school

The incident occurred on November 11 when the accused called the boy’s father, saying he wanted to share some Diwali sweets and asked him to send his son over to collect it, the Bhandup police said. The boy’s parents did not suspect anything, as the driver had been dropping the boy to school for years.

A 50-year-old autorickshaw driver was arrested on Sunday for raping a nine-year-old boy he had been dropping to school everyday for over six years. While the man attacked the boy over the Diwali vacations, the boy’s parents registered a complaint only on Sunday, after which he was arrested.

The Bhandup Police has arrested a man for alleged rape of a nine-year-old boy. The man, an autorickshaw driver, had been dropping the child to school for six years. (Reuters File / Representative Image)

On November 11, the man called the boy’s father, said he wanted to share some Diwali sweets and asked him to send his son over to collect it, the Bhandup police said. The boy’s parents did not suspect anything, as the driver had been dropping the boy to school for years. “The driver called us twice, asking us to drop our son at his home,” the boy’s mother told the police.

The boy’s older sister dropped him off at the driver’s house and returned. However, the boy did not return for more than an hour. His mother got worried and decided to pick him up. “On the way, I saw my son crying and walking home. When I asked him what happened, all he managed to say is that the driver was a bad man,” the mother told the police.

The same evening, the boy’s parents confronted the driver at his home, but he charged towards them and began abusing them. The parents said they left soon after but the driver followed them, saying the boy was lying. “We didn’t want the autorickshaw driver to attack another child, so we approached the police,” the mother’s complaint said.

The police arrested the man under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 377 (unnatural offences), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) along with 4 (penetrative sexual assault), section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault), 12 (sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).

“The parents came forward and registered the offence after which we immediately arrested the accused,” said a police officer from Bhandup police station.