Class 8 girl raped in Shahjahanpur, van driver held

A 20-year-old van driver in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly raping a Class 8 student of a private school, senior police officials said. They said that the student used to take the same van to commute between her house in the Ramchandra Mission area and the school in the Kaanth police station area, daily.
The police said a notice was also issued to the school for violating the norms for sending girl students without any female assistant present in the van.
Additional superintendent of police (ASP), city, Sanjay Kumar, said that the police had arrested the driver, Shivanshu, and sent him to jail on Tuesday. He said the student has been sent to the Government Medical College for a medical examination and further legal proceedings are under way.
“On Monday morning, the driver took the student from her house, but instead of dropping her at school, he took her to his home and allegedly raped her. He also threatened to kill her if she spoke about the incident to anyone. When the student returned home, she narrated the incident to her family members,” said Kumar in a video statement released by the Shahjahanpur police.
He said the girl’s father approached the police on Monday and lodged a complaint following which a case was registered. He said the case was registered under sections 65 (punishment for rape), 137 (kidnapping), 127 (wrongful confinement), 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.