Calcutta: A case filed suo motu by police in 2014 about the alleged molestation of a kindergarten student at GD Birla Centre for Education was closed in court with an "FRT (final report true)" but no arrest because the child's parents did not want to give a statement.

The then three-year-old girl had been allegedly assaulted by the conductor of a bus hired by the school to ferry students to the venue of a cultural event.

The parents had filed a complaint with the school authorities but never went to the police, an officer familiar with the probe recalled on Friday. The suo motu case was filed after the school "forwarded" the complaint to the police.

"The parents did not consent to their child's medical examination. We never got to speak to her either," the officer said.

The police traced the bus whose conductor had allegedly targeted the girl and identified him and the driver as suspects. But the crucial next step in the investigation - identification by the victim - never happened, the officer said.

"In cases where there is no digital evidence, the fate of the case hinges on the statement of the victim. There were a few gaps in the girl's version, as mentioned in the letter her parents had submitted to the school.... But then, she was only three at the time. We were confident that had we been allowed to speak to her, we might have confirmed the sequence of events," the officer said.

The FRT submitted to a city court in 2015 said the incident had been found to be "true" but the investigation did not progress for want of evidence.