Jharkhand Police have apprehended a 30-year-old school van driver for allegedly raping a three-and-a-half-year-old nursery student in Jamshedpur, located in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district.
The alleged incident occurred in the Mango area of the city on Friday. The victim’s mother filed a First Information Report or FIR on Saturday, leading to the driver’s arrest within three hours.
Jaishree Tiwary, the accused and a resident of Daiguttu, was taken into custody by a special police team from the Mango police station, as confirmed by Superintendent of Police (City and Rural) Rishava Garg during a press briefing.
SP Garg mentioned that a medical examination of the young victim had been conducted. The accused driver was subsequently placed in judicial custody by Sunday.
According to reports, the victim returned home complaining of stomach pain and revealed the assault to her parents, identifying the school bus driver as the perpetrator.
Upon receiving the FIR, Senior Superintendent Kishore Kaushal formed a special police team and directed them to arrest the suspect under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
A female police officer was dispatched to the victim’s residence to gather more information before the driver’s arrest.
SP Garg reported that the school van involved in the incident had been seized. He assured the victim’s family that the police were treating the case with utmost seriousness and pledged that a chargesheet would be filed within a week.
This incident follows another case in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district in June, where a minor girl was raped and subsequently died. In the past seven months, at least six cases of sexual offences against minors have been reported in the State.
