Bhopal Horror: Top brass of faculty booked below POCSO over lapses in sexual assault of nursery pupil

By Express News Service

BHOPAL: Perhaps for the primary time, the highest brass of a outstanding non-public faculty in Madhya Pradesh have been booked below the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act 2020.

Three high officers, together with the outstanding faculty’s chairperson, director (operations), principal and the transport in-charge had been booked by the Bhopal police below Section 188 IPC and Section 21 of POCSO Act late on Thursday evening, for lapses within the matter pertaining to the alleged sexual assault on three and half years nursery pupil by bus driver inside the college bus on September 8.

According to a senior Bhopal Police commissionerate officer, the 4 officers of the college had been booked after hours of questioning of round 30-40 workers members of the 2200-students robust faculty.

The 4 officers have been discovered prima facie liable for non-operability of CCTV digicam put in within the bus (through which the minor was sexually assaulted on September 8) and overlaying up the matter for 3 days within the identify of an inner probe, as a substitute of reporting it well timed to the police.

“Though the parents reported the matter to the school administration on September 9 only (a day after it happened in the bus), instead of reporting it to Bhopal Police immediately, the school administration kept on misleading the nursery student’s parents in the name of conducting an internal probe. It was finally on September 12 that the Bhopal Police came to know about the matter after the girl’s parents themselves reported the matter to the cops,” a senior Bhopal police officer stated.

Both the accused, the center aged faculty bus driver and the feminine caretaker within the bus, had been arrested by police on September 12 solely and booked u/s 376 AB and provisions of the POCSO Act.

A particular investigation crew (SIT) headed by ADCP Shrutkirti Somwanshi has been constituted by the Bhopal Police Commissioner Makarand Deouskar to probe the case, whose probe is being personally monitored by MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The SIT is now working to file a cost sheet within the case earlier than the court docket inside 10 days. 

Meanwhile, a parallel probe into the matter by the MP State Commission for Child Rights (MPSCPCR) has additionally led to some surprising revelations.

“Not just one nursery student girl, but two more nursery students could have been actually sexually assaulted, as the uniform of two more students were changed inside the same school bus the same day, as was in the case with the sexual assault survivor three and half years old minor,” the Commission’s member Brajesh Chouhan informed The New Indian Express on Friday.

“Though CCTV camera was installed in the bus, its Digital Video Recorder (DVR) didn’t have any memory card, meaning there was a digital eye in the bus, but without any brain and memory power. Also, the GPS system of the concerned bus hadn’t been updated. Importantly, it was among the 10 odd buses of that school, whose GPS system was awaiting update,” Chouhan added.

The youngster rights physique whose crew spent round 9-10 hours on the involved faculty on Thursday, additionally strongly felt that the bus driver accused of sexually assaulting the minor on September 8, probably had no prior expertise of working a faculty bus. Till 2019, he was driving the non-public automotive of some particular person in Indore, however after turning into jobless through the covid-19 pandemic, he was serving to his father run the household’s tea store in Bhopal. He joined the college as a bus driver only a few months again solely, the kid rights physique member stated.

“Also, the counselling of the girl by the state certified counsellor suggests that the concerned bus driver could have molested/sexually assaulted her previously also. We’re going to write to the Bhopal Police Commissioner for investigating on all these aspects also,” Chouhan maintained.

BHOPAL: Perhaps for the primary time, the highest brass of a outstanding non-public faculty in Madhya Pradesh have been booked below the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act 2020.

Three high officers, together with the outstanding faculty’s chairperson, director (operations), principal and the transport in-charge had been booked by the Bhopal police below Section 188 IPC and Section 21 of POCSO Act late on Thursday evening, for lapses within the matter pertaining to the alleged sexual assault on three and half years nursery pupil by bus driver inside the college bus on September 8.

According to a senior Bhopal Police commissionerate officer, the 4 officers of the college had been booked after hours of questioning of round 30-40 workers members of the 2200-students robust faculty.

The 4 officers have been discovered prima facie liable for non-operability of CCTV digicam put in within the bus (through which the minor was sexually assaulted on September 8) and overlaying up the matter for 3 days within the identify of an inner probe, as a substitute of reporting it well timed to the police.

“Though the parents reported the matter to the school administration on September 9 only (a day after it happened in the bus), instead of reporting it to Bhopal Police immediately, the school administration kept on misleading the nursery student’s parents in the name of conducting an internal probe. It was finally on September 12 that the Bhopal Police came to know about the matter after the girl’s parents themselves reported the matter to the cops,” a senior Bhopal police officer stated.

Both the accused, the center aged faculty bus driver and the feminine caretaker within the bus, had been arrested by police on September 12 solely and booked u/s 376 AB and provisions of the POCSO Act.

A particular investigation crew (SIT) headed by ADCP Shrutkirti Somwanshi has been constituted by the Bhopal Police Commissioner Makarand Deouskar to probe the case, whose probe is being personally monitored by MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The SIT is now working to file a cost sheet within the case earlier than the court docket inside 10 days. 

Meanwhile, a parallel probe into the matter by the MP State Commission for Child Rights (MPSCPCR) has additionally led to some surprising revelations.

“Not just one nursery student girl, but two more nursery students could have been actually sexually assaulted, as the uniform of two more students were changed inside the same school bus the same day, as was in the case with the sexual assault survivor three and half years old minor,” the Commission’s member Brajesh Chouhan informed The New Indian Express on Friday.

“Though CCTV camera was installed in the bus, its Digital Video Recorder (DVR) didn’t have any memory card, meaning there was a digital eye in the bus, but without any brain and memory power. Also, the GPS system of the concerned bus hadn’t been updated. Importantly, it was among the 10 odd buses of that school, whose GPS system was awaiting update,” Chouhan added.

The youngster rights physique whose crew spent round 9-10 hours on the involved faculty on Thursday, additionally strongly felt that the bus driver accused of sexually assaulting the minor on September 8, probably had no prior expertise of working a faculty bus. Till 2019, he was driving the non-public automotive of some particular person in Indore, however after turning into jobless through the covid-19 pandemic, he was serving to his father run the household’s tea store in Bhopal. He joined the college as a bus driver only a few months again solely, the kid rights physique member stated.

“Also, the counselling of the girl by the state certified counsellor suggests that the concerned bus driver could have molested/sexually assaulted her previously also. We’re going to write to the Bhopal Police Commissioner for investigating on all these aspects also,” Chouhan maintained.