Delhi school cabbie held for sexual assault on nursery student

NEW DELHI: A school cab driver has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a five-year-old nursery student while ferrying her to and from a school in Karol Bagh.

The child’s parents got to know about it on Tuesday after the girl refused to go to school. When her parents insisted on knowing why, the girl revealed her ordeal.

After Karol Bagh police station was informed, Usman Khan (38) was arrested from his house at a JJ colony in Burari within a few hours. “We have charged him with rape and under POCSO based on the statement of the child’s parents. We are probing if he is a repeat offender or was ever involved in any other criminal activity,” said DCP (central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa. Khan has been remanded in judicial custody.

The police suspect that the student of a well-known private school in central Delhi had been abused for the past two months. Six months ago, her parents had hired the cab that used to ferry other children from the same locality in Karol Bagh.

In her statement, the girl said that after dropping others, Khan would force her to sit on his lap and assault her repeatedly. He threatened to throw her out of the vehicle if she resisted. Cops are examining Khan’s mobile phone to check whether he had filmed the girl or any other child.

The girl’s father works in a private company. The parents told cops that in the past few days, the driver had grown violent due to which she had suffered injuries in her private parts. The survivor, who has been going to school since last year, was taken to hospital for a medical examination. She is also being counselled.

Although Khan couldn’t be found in his house, cops soon tracked him down nearby. He later admitted to have assaulted the child. His Maruti Eeco has been impounded.

The police have found that the cab was hired by the school to transport students from north, central and northwest Delhi. But Khan flouted the court guidelines on transport of schoolchildren. The cab neither had a woman attendant nor a video recorder, both mandatory for school vehicles, said a source.