New Delhi: Two school van drivers have been arrested for allegedly molesting a 10-year-old girl repeatedly over three years in north Delhi’s Civil Lines, police said Wednesday. The survivor, a Class VI student, confided in a teacher following a classroom awareness session on ’good touch and bad touch’.According to police, both men were employed as drivers for the private van that transported the girl to and from her school in Civil Lines. She was subjected to inappropriate physical touching inside the van since she was seven years old, police said.The alleged long-running abuse occurred at various points during her daily commute, with the most recent incident taking place on July 21 near Khyber Pass in Civil Lines. Out of fear and intimidation, she kept quiet for three years, police said.A senior officer said, “The school recently organised a routine body safety awareness session. Prompted by the lesson on distinguishing between safe and unsafe touch, the girl approached her class teacher and recounted the repeated misconduct by the two drivers.”The teacher immediately alerted the girl’s parents, who accompanied their daughter to the local police post to lodge a complaint. “A case was registered under sections 8 and 10 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, which pertain to the punishment for sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault on a child,” the officer said.Following preliminary inquiries and verification of the allegations, police arrested both accused. Investigators are questioning them and verifying whether other children who used the same service were also subjected to similar behaviour.In a similar incident, a three-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a caretaker inside a school in west Delhi’s Janakpuri in May.
