Bus driver rapes 3-yr-old in Noida

GREATER NOIDA: A three-year-old nursery student of a private school in Noida’s Sector 70 has been allegedly raped by the school bus driver while he was dropping her back home in Sector 143, police said. The driver has been identified and will be arrested soon, the police said.

A case of rape was registered on Thursday against an unknown bus driver under sections of rape (376A and 376B) along with sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.

According to the child’s mother, who is the complainant, the incident happened on October 9. “On October 9 when my husband went to pick up our daughter, aged three years and nine months,from the bus stop, she started crying as soon as she stepped down from the bus. When he asked her the reason, she told him that the driver had removed her undergarments and touched her inappropriately. She said he also made some lewd comments,” said the woman in her complaint.

An advocate by profession, the woman was in Gurgaon at the time of the incident. “I took her to another room and enquired about the incident. She started crying and narrated her ordeal to me. She also snatched the phone from my hands and in a scared tone told me not to tell anyone, else ‘bhaiya’ would hit her,” alleged the mother.

In her complaint, the mother further said that she immediately called the school principal and class teacher and shared a video on WhatsApp, but got no response. “The next day the principal called me to the school and we had a meeting with the school management. They assured us that they would take strict action in the matter and also file an FIR,” said the woman.

The parents alleged that for nearly 15 days, they were given this assurance. Meanwhile, on October 10, the girl was taken to the school to identify the driver and in front of the principal and other officials she picked his photo from four photos.

After the school didn’t take any satisfactory action, the parents approached the police and filed a complaint with the Surajpur police station. The victim’s family resides in Sector 143, which comes under the jurisdiction of Surajpur police station.

Police officials said that the driver has now been identified. “We are looking into the matter and will arrest him soon. If the investigation reveals that the school was at fault, we will also take the necessary action against it,” said Vineet Jaiswal, superintendent of police (rural).

“As per the school’s statement, the driver has been expelled from duty and we are working with the school in this matter,” said the police.

The school said that they are cooperating with the police in this regard.

However, the principal didn’t comment on the situation despite multiple attempts to reach her.

THE INCIDENT TOOK PLACE ON OCTOBER 9, BUT THE PARENTS APPROACHED POLICE ON THURSDAY AFTER THE SCHOOL FAILED TO TAKE ANY SATISFACTORY ACTION ON THEIR PLAINT