Bhopal: SIT to probe nursery kid rape in school bus 

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A special investigation team (SIT) was formed at the instructions of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to probe alleged rape of a nursery kid in the bus of a prestigious school in Bhopal, as per officials.

The SIT will have four members to be led by an assistant commissioner of police Shrutkriti Somvanshi, as per officials.

Earlier, the chief minister summoned the police officials to his residence at 7 in the morning and instructed them to take strict action in connection with the incident. 

The meeting was attended by principal secretary school education Rashmi Arun Shami, commissioner Bhopal division Gulshan Bamra, police commissioner Makrand Deouskar, collector Avinash Lavania and certain other officers. Additional chief secretary, home Rajesh Rajora attended the meeting virtually.

Terming the incident as a serious one CM asked why the school management was not summoned so far for questioning. 

He said this could not be allowed that if there was any influential person he would not be summoned. Call them for questioning, he instructed the officials. 

CM wanted to know from the school education department if the school buses in the state were equipped with CCTV cameras and what action was taken by the department so far after the incident.

'Lakhs of students go to schools daily. How can such a situation allow students to travel in an unsafe atmosphere,' he asked. 

He instructed action be taken in a stipulated time limit. The female attendant seemed equally responsible along with the driver of the bus in this case. 

ìHowsoever big a school may be, it is responsible for the safety of students. Verify credentials of all the school buses drivers across the state. There should be a clear message to all the schools that school management will be responsible for any lapse,î he said.†† 

Notably, a nursery kid was allegedly raped by the school bus driver Hanumant Jatav in the school bus on Thursday last while she was going back home. A female attendant was present in the bus when the crime took place. 

Mother of the three-and-a-half -year -old kid lodged an FIR with the police later on Monday. Later, the driver and the female attendant were arrested by police.

Driver has criminal record

Apprising the chief minister of the police action so far, police commissioner Makrand Deouskar said the driver had been arrested and he was earlier named in two crime cases. 

He said the police were trying to know by taking into confidence other kids who used the bus and their parents if there was similar crime with any other kid.

Women staff must in school Buses ferrying girls: Collector

Bhopal Collector Avinash Lavania constituted teams of officers to ensure that all government guidelines are followed in school buses ferrying children on Thursday.

Teams officials including SDM, DSP, officials of education dept, RTO, BMC told to ensure schools were following all guidelines.The teams led by SDM will visit the schools in their areas. Besides, the RTO (Regional Transport Officers) and a DSP will conduct inspection to ensure that guidelines regarding the fitness of the buses were duly followed. The responsibility of the safety of the children lies with the school management. If any negligence is found, the management will be held responsible and legal action will be initiated against them, said the collector.

The collector instructed the District Education Officer (DEO) to ensure that the guidelines, issued by the government, are followed by all private schools and take all necessary steps for the safety of children, especially girls. Women staff is in all school buses in which girls commute, CCTV cameras are mandatory. Lavania has instructed the officials to form separate flying squads to regularly check all the school buses.

The team will also check whether schools have separate toilets for girls and boys. Instructions were also issued to ensure that women staff are stationed everywhere on the school premises.