Three minor girls molested by school van driver in Juhu

The arrested accused, Gulzar Shaikh, 48, lives in Santacruz area and he has his own van and he picks and drops school children from their residences to school. He was arrested under Section 75 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the BNS along with relevant sections of the POCSO. He is in police custody till November 20.

According to the police, the incident occurred on November 13 when the suspect allegedly picked up students from outside the gate of a private school in Juhu. Two days later, an 11-year-old victim informed her parents that the driver had touched her inappropriately on the pretext of helping her to get off from the vehicle. When her mother spoke to other parents, whose daughters also travel in the same van, she learnt that two other children aged 8 and 9 years were also molested by the same driver. Both the girls informed their parents that the driver badly touched them and put the hand in their school dress on the pretext of helping or holding their bag, said a police officer.

The accused touched the victims on their back while helping them to get off, and he even groped a girl. The parents then decided to approach the police and they visited the Santacruz police station on November 15 and gave a statement. The police recorded the statement of the victims and their parents and an FIR was registered against Shaikh. As the incident occurred outside the school, which comes under the jurisdiction of Juhu, the case was transferred there for further probe, said an officer.

“Once the case came to us, a police team immediately arrested the accused on November 15. The van does not belong to the school and it is a private van that picks up students from outside the school,” said an officer of Juhu police station.