Thane: Bus attendant held for sexually harassing students during excursion

A 27-year-old bus attendant from a private bus was detained on suspicion of sexually harassing students of a private school in Thane during an excursion, said police officials on Wednesday.

According to the report, the incident happened on Tuesday when the students from the aforementioned private school were travelling in the private bus to a theme park in the Ghatkopar area of Mumbai for an excursion.

Under the pretence of giving some male and female students snacks, the accused reportedly inappropriately handled them during the trip, according to police inspector JP Patil of the Kapurbawdi police station.

As per the PTI report, some students objected to the wrongdoing after observing it and told their parents about it later. The worried parents then reported the incident to the police.

“During the journey, the accused touched some girls as well as boys inappropriately on the pretext of serving them snacks. Following this, some students raised an objection and later told their parents about it. After that, they approached the police and filed a complaint,” JP Patil told PTI.

Following the complaint, the police registered a case against the accused under relevant sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force to any woman), 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused was subsequently arrested, PTI reported.