Hyderabad: School bus driver gets 20-year jail for sexually assaulting 4-yr-old student

Hyderabad: A fast-track court on Tuesday sentenced a driver of a private school in Hyderabad to a 20 years in jail for sexually assaulting a four-year-old student. The court held Beemana Rajani Kumar (34) guilty and awarded the sentence. It, however, acquitted school principal S. Madhavi.

Kumar, who was working as the principal's driver, was arrested on October 19 last year for sexually assaulting the LKG student. The principal of DAV Public School in Banjara Hills was also arrested for negligence. The incident came to light after the parents of the victim noticed behavioral changes in her.

When enquired, she told them that Rajani Kumar had been sexually assaulting her for the last three months. He used to take her from the classroom to digital classroom. Sometime, the accused took her to the inside room of the school, removed her clothes and sexually assaulted her.

Enraged on learning about the assault, the victim's parents and other relatives rushed to the school and beat up the driver. He was later arrested by the police. Kumar was booked under section 376 a and b of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 6 read with 5 m of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Following protest by the victim's relatives and others, the police had also arrested the principal for negligence. Following the incident, the Telangana government had derecognized the private school.

As the incident had triggered outrage, the government had also constituted a committee to recommend measures to ensure safety and security of the students in schools.