Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)
Mangaluru, Mar 14: The sexual assault on a three-and-a-half-year-old child at Chembugudde in Ullal police station limits has been confirmed in the medical report, police said.
The nursery student of Mangalore One school was sexually assaulted on Friday March 13, allegedly by the driver of the Omni belonging to the school.
Madhukar Shetty (35), the accused, was arrested on Friday and produced in court.
Speaking to daijiworld, DCP Santosh Babu said that the medical report which came out on Saturday March 14 confirmed that the girl had been sexually assualted.
However, he said that it was a case of sexual assault and not rape, but added that the seriousness of the crime was equal to rape.
The accused has been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Soon after the incident came to light, Ullal and Thokkottu areas turned tense as angry locals pelted stones at buses and police vehicles and mobbed the police station and the hospital premises. The police had to resort to lathi charge and heavy security was deployed at the spots.
It is alleged that Madhukar, the driver of Mangalore One school's Omni van, on Friday dropped the other students to their respective homes and when the girl was alone in the vehicle with him, he sexually assaulted her before dropping her home. The girl's mother noticed that she was bleeding when she went to the toilet, and on questioning, revealed the incident. Later, a few persons went to the school and allegedly beat up Madhukar, after which he was arrested by the Ullal police. The school, however, reportedly denied the allegations and said that the child got hurt while getting up from a chair in school.
Khadar visits
Meanwhile, health and family welfare minister U T Khadar on Saturday visited the victim at Lady Goschen hospital in the city and spoke to the family.
Later, speaking to media persons, Khadar condemned the incident and said that whoever has committed the heinous crime will be punished as per law. "I spoke to the parents of the child and told them not to panic. I have already made arrangements for counselling for them."
He also condemned the stone-pelting incidents that rocked Ullal and Thokkottu and said that one should not take law into one's hands.
"Law will take its own course. But no one should take law into their hands or get provoked by any incident. Action will be taken against whoever has committed the crime," he said.
He also said that he has already spoken to the police commissioner and that committee has been formed led by ACP south to probe the chaos that erupted in Ullal and Thokkottu.