Private school van driver rapes 4-year-old in Outer Delhi, held

THE GIRL SUFFERED INJURIES IN HER PRIVATE PARTS AND IS UNDER TREATMENT AT A HOSPITAL, COPS SAID

NEWDELHI:A four-year-old schoolgirl was raped, allegedly by the driver of a private school van, in outer Delhi’s Baba Haridas Nagar on Tuesday afternoon.

The girl, a nursery student at a private school, suffered injuries in her private parts and is under treatment at a hospital, police said.

The driver, Pawan Kumar, 25, was arrested after the girl’s family filed a complaint against him. An FIR under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the Baba Haridas Nagar police station.

Police said Kumar is married and father of a girl child. A police officer said some families had hired Kumar’s van to ferry their children to school.

The girl’s parents told police that around 2 pm on Tuesday , the driver dropped other children home and their daughter was alone in the van when the incident took place.

Kumar was on the way to the girl’s home to drop her when he allegedly stopped the vehicle in a secluded area, some 600 metres away from her home, and forced himself on her.

He allegedly threatened the girl with dire consequences if she told anybody about it.

Police said the driver later dropped the girl outside her home and fled in his vehicle. After reaching home, the child complained about pain in her stomach and private parts and started crying. When the mother found her daughter bleeding, she informed her husband and they admitted her to a hospital.

“Doctors at the hospital told the girl’s parents that she was sexually assaulted. The parents asked their daughter who she told them that she was hurt by the school van driver. The family approached the police and lodged a complaint,” said the officer. The driver was later arrested and his van was impounded.

The matter was brought to the notice of the Delhi Commission for Women and senior police officers who assured the family that the case would be tried in a fast-track court.

The police seized Kumar’s mobile phone and were examining it to see if he had filmed the assault on the rape survivor or any other girl.

The condition of the girl is said to be stable and out of danger and is being counselled by members of an NGO.