Pune: Two school girls sexually assaulted by bus driver; police begin probe

Two school girls were sexually assaulted in a moving bus by a 45-year-old driver in Pune on September 30 following which police have initiated investigation into the matter. Police said a case has been registered against the accused at Wanwadi police station under Section 64, 65 (2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on October 2.
This incident has ignited unrest in the city and the accused is known for driving students from a prestigious school, with both victims sitting at the front of the bus during the assaults.
Witnesses reported that the driver exhibited inappropriate sexual behavior while seated near the girls and allegedly threatened them.
The incident came to light two months after two four-year-old girls were sexually assaulted by a cleaner in their pre-primary school in Maharashtra’s Badlapur East.
The accused Akshay Shinde (24) was arrested on August 16 and was later killed in an alleged police encounter. Parents of the two girls had reported the matter to school principal, who in turn informed school trust chairman Uday Kotwal (60) and trust secretary Tushar Apte (57). However, the duo did not take prompt action and were thus booked in the two separate FIRs registered at Badlapur East police station, as non-reporting of sexual assault on minors is a punishable offence under the POCSO Act, 2012.
Later, the police also found that the CCTV footage of the school from around mid-July to mid-August was tampered with. In their pre-arrest bail pleas filed before the special POCSO court in Kalyan and thereafter before the high court, Kotwal and Apte maintained that they came to know about the sexual assaults only after the Badlapur East police called them for an inquiry, and so there was no question of reporting them earlier to the police.
A single-judge bench of Justice R N Laddha on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of both Kotwal and Apte—the same day when a division bench questioned the SIT for not arresting the two. Both the accused have been on the managing committee of the school for the past 15 years. Sources had alleged that the main accused, Akshay Shinde, used to work at a farmhouse owned by Apte’s family.