Driver held for rape of kid

LELIN MALLICK, TT, Bhubaneswar, Aug. 26: The bus driver of a well-known city school was today arrested for allegedly raping a four-year-old student in the compound yesterday.

The incident has sent shockwaves across the state and also raised a question mark over the security and safety of students in private schools.

The 25-year-old driver, Bijay Maharana, had been working in the school for the past three years. The four-year-old English medium school is located at Gangapada in the Chandaka police limits.

Police said Bijay, a Chandaka resident, took the child to the school's toilet around 10.30am yesterday and raped her.

"The girl told her parents that the driver, whom she addressed as uncle, had asked her to follow him to the school toilet while she was having her breakfast. There, the driver allegedly raped her," said a police officer.

The matter came to light after the child's parents found bloodstains on her private parts after she returned home from school around 12.30pm. When the parents enquired, the child described her ordeal. The parents immediately lodged a complaint at Mahila police station.

The police have registered a case under sections 376(2)(i) (rape on a woman when she is under 16 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code and also under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

Following the complaint, the police detained two drivers of the school this morning. The cops later arrested Maharana after the victim identified him. The girl had joined the school's kindergarten section only three months ago.

Police commissioner Y.B. Khurania said the driver had been arrested on charges of raping the minor.

"Yesterday, a minor girl was raped in the school compound. The accused has been identified and arrested. He has been sent for medical examination and further investigation is going on," said Khurania.

The victim's father, a central government employee, said: "We are in a state of shock, deeply traumatised. We want the culprit hanged."

School principal, however, denied the charges and said that no driver was allowed on the school premises.

"We have conducted an internal inquiry and found that no such incident took place on the school premises. The child had gone back home yesterday in a happy mood," she said, while adding that authorities would co-operate with the police in the investigation.

Another school official, who did not wish to be quoted, said the alleged victim never travelled in the school bus driven by the accused. The accused has been driving the school vehicle for the past three years, he said.

The police said the school authorities informed them that the accused had entered the premises around 10.45am yesterday for collecting the school's electricity bill.

"The authorities told us that the accused had stayed on the school premises for only about a minute and left immediately after collecting the money. We are analysing the school's CCTV footage," said the police officer.