School van driver sexually assaults four-year-old girl in Indore; held

PTI, Oct 7, 2023, 1:13 PM IST

A four-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by the driver of a van that ferried children to a private playschool in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, police said on Saturday.

Based on a complaint lodged by the parents of the child, the police arrested the van driver, identified as Sumit, on Friday evening, an official said. The assault came to light when the mother noticed the girl’s unusual behaviour, and she complained of pain in her private parts, Sanyogitaganj Police Station in-charge Vijay Tiwari said. The girl informed her mother that the accused had touched her private parts and sexually assaulted her, he said. ”The parents brought the child to the police station and she was sent for medical examination,” the official said.

The police collected the driver’s details from the private playschool and nabbed him in the evening, he said. The accused has been booked under sections 376(3) (rape on woman under 16 years of age), 354 (assault or criminal force to any woman) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Tiwari said.