Manama: Qatar's lower court sentenced an Indian driver to two years in jail and fined him 10,000 riyals (Dh10,089) for leaving a four-year-old girl student locked up in a bus.
The girl, who survived the ordeal, remained in the bus from early in the morning until 12.30pm when the driver found her unconscious.
The family said that their daughter still suffers from trauma and that they would file a lawsuit to demand compensation, The Peninsula reported on Saturday.
A school teacher was also charged in the case after she failed to appoint a substitute supervisor to replace the regular chaperone who was absent that day. The court ruled that the incident would not have happened if the school had appointed a supervisor.
The Indian driver was convicted of negligence by the court, but his lawyer is appealing the sentence.
Last May, a four-year-old Indian junior kindergarten student died in Doha after she was left locked up for hours inside a school minivan that had no supervisor on that day.
The girl dozed off in one of the rear seats and the driver did not notice her. She died apparently of heat and suffocation.
