Navi Mumbai: A 30-year-old driver of a school bus has been arrested by police for allegedly sexually assaulting a three-year-old school girl inside the vehicle. She was the last student to be dropped at her home on Wednesday afternoon.The arrested accused worked as a driver on the private bus hired by the school for ferrying students. Police have invoked BNS section against him that prescribes punishment for committing rape on a female under 12 years of age, along with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.A police officer said, “The girl daily commutes to school by the private school bus with other schoolchildren and returns home by the same bus. On Wednesday, around 12.30 pm, the accused had picked up the students of kindergarten and primary medium school in Kamothe for dropping them home. When the minor girl was alone inside the bus as other students had already alighted at their destinations, the accused took advantage and allegedly sexually assaulted her.”The officer added: “The incident came to light after the girl upon reaching home complained of abdominal pain. The girl told her grandmother that the driver uncle had troubled her inside the bus. The grandmother complained to the school management and then lodged a police complaint against the driver. After the girl’s medical test confirmed that she was sexually assaulted, we registered a rape case against the driver. Even the statement of school management staff will be recorded.”On Thursday, the accused was produced before the Panvel court, which remanded him to police custody till Saturday.
