A three-and-a-half-year-old nursery student was raped allegedly by her school bus driver inside the vehicle in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal, a police official said on Tuesday.
The police have arrested the bus driver and a woman attendant who, according to the child's parents, was present inside the vehicle at the time of the crime on September 8, the official said.
Meanwhile, the Bhopal district administration has demolished the "illegal" house of the accused driver on the directives of authorities, an official said.
“The revenue and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) squads in a joint operation demolished the bus driver's illegal house,” sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Kshitij Sharma said on Tuesday.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the government had taken the incident very seriously.
Asked if the school management had tried to cover up the matter, State Home Minister Narottam Mishra said the role of the school administration would be investigated and action taken accordingly.
The school principal could not be contacted for a reaction.
The girl, studying in a leading private school in the city, was returning home in the bus when the incident occurred.
After the girl returned home, her mother noticed that someone had changed her clothes with the spare set kept in her bag, the police official said.
The mother enquired with her daughter's class teacher and also the school principal, but both denied having changed the child's clothes.
"The girl later complained of pain in her private parts. Her parents took her into confidence and counselled her, following which she informed them that the bus driver had abused her and also changed her clothes," the police official said.
The parents went to the school the next day to complain to authorities and the child identified the driver, the official said.
"The girl's parents filed a complaint with the police on Monday, following which a probe was launched," Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Nidhi Saxena said.
A case has been registered under Indian Penal Code Section 376-AB (rape of a girl under 12 years of age) and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, she said.
The victim's medical report is awaited.
