Three Indians arrested for raping 4-year-old Indian girl

Dubai, Jan 19 (PTI) Dubai police have arrested threeIndians for allegedly raping a four-year-old Indian girl in aschool bus and face death punishment if found guilty.

The driver accused of sexually assaulting a ModernHigh School pupil before dropping her off at her homeallegedly lured the girl to the back seat of the bus byoffering her chocolate.

According to the police, all the suspects are Indians,Gulf News reported. Dubai Police said that the suspects hadconfessed to the crime, after which the case was referred tothe public prosecution to press charges.

The law of Dubai stipulates that a suspect who rapes amale or a female could face a death punishment. If the victimis less than 14 years, then the act would be consideredforcible.

Two more men, both employees of the same school arealso in police custody for allegedly sexually assaulting thechild. According to the public prosecution, the three menabused the girl while she was asleep on the school bus on herway back home.

"During interrogation, my daughter told the policethat the driver offered her a chocolate and asked her to go tothe back seat of the bus before he started touching her," theIndian mother of the girl told Gulf News on Tuesday.

"She may not have been fully conscious but I believeshe might have been in half consciousness since she remembersthe incident."

A week ago, Dubai police arrested three Indian menaged 26, 37 and 44 in relation to the case. According to theparents, the child was sexually assaulted on November 11, theday before her school closed for a 10-day break.

Although the parents realised a few days later thattheir daughter had been subject to assault, they reported thecrime on January 11.

Prosecutors have started questioning three suspectsinvolved in sexually abusing a four-year-old schoolgirl, saidDubai''s Attorney General on Tuesday afternoon.

The male suspects � the bus driver, supervisor and hisassistant � abused the fact that the girl was asleep on theway back home when they supposedly assaulted her, said alHumaidan.

According to the statement, Dubai''s Attorney Generalhas ordered Chief Prosecutor al Shamsi and prosecutor al Attarto hasten the investigation process and follow up on theoutcome of technical reports before taking a decision in thecase.

Chief Prosecutor al Shamsi said: "We will be waitingfor the results of the forensic laboratory''s report which willhelp in specifying whether the girl was raped or molested.

This is a technical matter and the reports are vital in suchcases."

The Consulate General of India in Dubai Sanjay Vermasaid that the consulate has received a number of phone callsfrom the community, who wanted to show solidarity with thefamily and to know the ways to avoid such incidents.

"It is shocking. There is anger and anxiety in thecommunity on this issue," he said.