Thane: A 14-year-old girl, studying at a private school in the city, was allegedly molested by two of her classmates inside a bus and a car, police said today.
The owner of the bus transport service, hired by the school on contractual basis, has been arrested for allegedly abetting the crime and the two minor boys have been detained, assistant police inspector Dinkar K Chandkar, of Kasarwadavali police station, said.
On December 15, the girl finished her school exam earlier than others and went and sat in the bus parked outside the premises at around noon. Another girl was also in the bus at that time. Soon, two male students from the victim’s class came into the bus and allegedly molested her, Chandkar said.
The other girl sitting in the bus got scared and alighted from the vehicle.
The two boys then took the victim into a car parked nearby in which the school transport bus owner was also there.
The car was then driven to Gaimukh creek where the boys allegedly molested the girl again. Later, the bus owner, identified as Darshan Bhokre (30), drove the car to a place near Ovla petrol pump and dropped the two boys and the girl there and fled, police said.
While the scared victim did not reveal the incident to anyone, the other girl, who was in the bus at the time of the alleged offence, reported the matter to a school teacher.
The school teacher in-turn informed the victim’s mother about the incident. Later, the girl confided in her mother and based on the victim’s complaint, an FIR was registered against the accused by Kasarwadavali police yesterday, Chandkar said.
Subsequently, the bus owner was arrested and the two boys detained and sent to a remand home, police said adding that they have been booked under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and also section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act-2012.