Preschool kid 'sexually abused', van driver held

Police have detained a school van driver in connection with the sexual abuse of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl. The incident is said to have occurred when the victim was returning home by the van from her preschool on Sarjapur Road on Tuesday. 

A day after the alleged incident, the child complained to her parents of pain in her private parts. A careful examination then revealed that she had been “sexually abused”. The child named the van driver as the one “who did this,” her mother said in a complaint to the HSR Layout police. 

Authorities at the preschool, however, denied the incident, saying there was no way the driver and the child would have been left alone in the van as a female attender would be always present. 

The girl underwent medical examination at the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital on Thursday. A senior medical officer from the hospital told Deccan Herald there were no external injuries on the girl’s private parts. 

He, however, said that sexual abuse could not be ruled out. He also pointed out that the child was brought to the hospital a few days after the alleged incident occurred. 

Shanta Kumar, ACP (Madiwala sub-division), said that a case of rape had been registered and the driver detained. But he said investigation was still on, and refused to disclose the identity of the suspect who is being interrogated. 

The child, the only daughter of her parents, would go to preschool by the school van, police sources said. Her parents live in Devarabeesanahalli. Her father is a chartered accountant. 

Meanwhile, a member of the preschool management said, “A female attender is always present in the van and there is no way the driver and the child would have been left alone. It is false that such sexual assault has occurred. We don’t even allow van drivers to enter classrooms.” 

The female attender is also said to have denied any such incident. The institution has only one van and a driver to pick up and drop the children. The driver has been working with this school for nearly nine months. 

Windscreen smashed

Miscreants smashed the windscreen of a car parked near the Press Club of Bangalore and decamped with a laptop and other valuables early on Thursday morning. 

Amit Shah, a software engineer, parked the car near PCB and went to Cubbon Park for a morning walk. A case has been registered at Cubbon Park police station.