The Badlapur West police on Thursday arrested a 37-year-old school van driver for allegedly sexually abusing a four-year-old girl. Senior inspector Kishor Shinde confirmed the arrest and said, “the accused has been arrested under relevant section of the law including POCSO. He will be produced before the court on Friday for further investigation.”
According to the police, the victim is a KG student of an English secondary school located about three kilometers from her residence. The school operates between 9 am and 1 pm. The incident took place on Thursday while the accused was dropping the child home after school.
Police said the girl was the last student in the van when the defendant allegedly touched her inappropriately. When she got home, the girl seemed scared and did not contact her parents at first.
“The parents felt something was wrong and confided in the girl. She then revealed her order,” a police officer said.
Later, the parents approached the Badlapur West police station and lodged a complaint. Based on her statement, the police registered a case under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act.
A police team immediately visited the residence of the accused, took him to the police station and arrested him on Thursday night. “He will be produced in court on Friday,” the official said.
Police said further investigation would be carried out after securing the custody of the accused. “Once we have custody of the accused, we will investigate how long he has been working as a driver and whether there is any record of such incidents or other criminal cases against him,” the official added.
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In August last year, a series of protests broke out in Badlapur over the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old girls at a private school by a member of the cleaning staff and the “delay” in police action. The accused was later killed in a confrontation with the police.