Shahdara: Three schoolboys booked after their junior alleges sexual assault in bus

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The boy’s parents approached police and registered a complaint on Monday. “The boy alleged the first incident took place on July 27. Around 1.45 pm, the three students, his seniors, called him and asked him to sit on their lap. One of them allegedly molested him. He rushed back to his seat,” a senior police officer said.

The complainant alleged that a similar incident took place on July 30 and August 1, when he finally told his mother about it. All three boys have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The school’s vice-principal denied the boy’s allegations. The school has rusticated the three accused and issued a showcause notice to the teacher.

“We received a complaint of sexual assault on August 2 and asked the teacher on the bus about it. She said it was a usual fight among children, and denied any sexual assault. So we rusticated the boys on disciplinary grounds and informed the nine-year-old’s parents. The family has now gone to police as there are vested interests of some in defaming the school,” said the vice-principal.

Under the POCSO Act, all cases of sexual offences against children need to be reported to the nearest police station. Holding an internal inquiry cannot be a ground for not reporting the matter to the police, the Act says. In this case, the school did not approach police.