A furore has erupted in Madhya Pradesh after two cases of rapes of very young children were reported within a span of two days in the state.
On Tuesday, after reports of the alleged sexual assault of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl, studying in a prominent private school in state capital Bhopal, by the school bus driver came to light, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the case has been taken very seriously and a fast trial would be ensured for the strictest punishment to the culprit.
The incident happened on September 8, but the FIR was lodged on Monday. According to police sources, the mother of the child said in her complaint that she was alerted by the fact that the uniform of her daughter had been changed (with a spare one carried in school bag as is norm for nursery students) though she had not vomited or wetted her original uniform.
Later, on questioning, the child said that she was subject to 'bad touch' from the school bus driver 'uncle' indicating penetration by finger apart from other assaults of sexual nature. The mother also found some bruises on the kid's private parts. After talking to the school authorities and not being satisfied, the parents decided to lodge a complaint with the police.
The police have arrested the bus driver and charged him with rape and under other pertinent sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. They are also questioning a lady caretaker who was aboard the bus when the incident allegedly happened.
“The incident that occurred in a school bus in Bhopal has been taken in all seriousness. The accused have been arrested. The incident has been categorised as 'identified offence' so that an early trial is possible and strictest punishment is ensured (for the culprit),” Chouhan tweeted.
The Bhopal incident came to light close on the heels of alleged rape of a three-year-old girl in a village under Kymore police station in Katni in the wee hours of Sunday (September 11). Police said that the accused picked up the girl while she was asleep in her house and raped her. She was later found near her home with injuries and is undergoing treatment at the Medical College Hospital in Jabalpur. What had enraged locals further about the incident was that the accused, whom they had caught and handed over to police, escaped from custody.
Katni superintendent of police Sunil Jain conceded that the accused had given a slip to a team of dial-100, but was nabbed within 24 hours on Monday. A head-constable was suspended in the matter. Jain said that the accused, about 28-30 years old, worked in an eatery and lived on rent in a room close to the house of the girl. The SP said that the police will present a charge-sheet in the court in the case at the earliest.
MP Congress chief Kamal Nath took on the government over the incidents. “Madhya Pradesh is fast becoming an insecure state for our sisters and daughters. According to NCRB figures, the state continues to be on the top in the matter of rape of minor girls. After the rape of an innocent girl in Katni, now the incident of rape of a three-and-a-half-year-old nursery girl student in a bus in capital Bhopal is heart-rending and shocking. I demand to the government that strict punishment be given to the guilty, justice be ensured for the victim's families and that the government take all possible steps immediately to prevent such incidents,” Nath tweeted.