VAN DRIVER JAILED FOR SEX ABUSE OF KINDERGARTENER

A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Friday sentenced a 51-year-old man, who used to transport children to school in his private van, to five years in jail for sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl, who used to commute in his van.

Special Judge under the POCSO Act SJ Gharat also imposed a fine of Rs15,000 on the man, finding him guilty under relevant sections of the POCSO Act and the offence of criminal intimidation.

The child’s mother in her testimony in the court had said her daughter, who was studying in kindergarten at the time in 2016 had told her one day that the driver uncle used to tease her. When the woman had questioned the driver, she had noticed the man giving the child threatening looks. When the child returned home that day from school, she asked her daughter if the accused had said anything to her. The child looked frightened and did not say anything. The mother had then noticed scratch marks on the child’s back when the child was changing and persuaded her further to confide in her. The girl then told her mother the accused used to touch her at her private parts when all the children used to get down at another school’s stop by taking the van to a secluded back gate. He had done the act many times, she told her mother. When asked why she did not tell about it to them, the child said the uncle had threatened to kill her mother if she did.

Special Public Prosecutor Geeta Sharma said the accused’s bail plea was rejected by the Bombay High Court too in 2017.