School bus conductor slits throat of 7-year-old boy who resisted his sexual advances

The conductor of a school bus in the northern Indian city of Gurugram has confessed to slitting the throat of a seven-year-old boy who objected to his sexual advances. The conductor Ashok Kumar has been arrested and will be presented in the court on Saturday (9 September).

Praddhuman Thakur, a student of Ryan International School, was found in a pool of blood in the school's toilet on Friday morning. He had two sharp cuts on his neck.

Police investigating the case said Kumar had been working with the school for the past eight months.

"Ashok attempted to sexually assault the boy, when he raised an alarm the conductor killed him. He had gone to use the toilet where he saw the boy. He was not targeting that particular child, only when he saw the boy he thought of assaulting him. He had the knife with him in his pocket," the deputy commissioner of police of the city, Simardeep Singh told NDTV.

The Class II student was found dead by a school bus driver, who went to use the toilet after the incident.

Praddhuman's father, Varun Thakur, who works in a garment-export firm, said he had dropped his son off at school at around 7.30am local time (3am BST), but received a call from the school saying his son's health had deteriorated. The school management asked him to reach Artemis hospital, where the child was pronounced dead.

"They told me his health deteriorated suddenly. They did not take care of my son. He could have been saved if he had been taken to hospital in time," the grieving father said, accusing the school of negligence.

The father has reportedly approached the Gurgaon police commissioner with his lawyer to demand action against the management of Ryan International School.

As news of the incident spread, hundreds of parents came to the school demanding answers from the authorities. Several of them also protested in front of a police station demanding quick action.