2 held as 16-yr-old gang-raped on bus from Gr Noida to Delhi

The driver and conductor of a sleeper bus were arrested for allegedly gang-raping a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh after misleading her into boarding the vehicle in Greater Noida, eventually dropping her off near Kashmere Gate, earlier this month, Delhi Police said on Monday

The driver and conductor of a sleeper bus were arrested for allegedly gang-raping a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh after misleading her into boarding the vehicle in Greater Noida, eventually dropping her off near Kashmere Gate, earlier this month, Delhi Police said on Monday. The arrests, however, triggered a jurisdictional dispute, with UP police alleging that Delhi Police did not inform them about the incident despite the alleged sexual assault taking place in the Gautam Buddh Nagar commissionerate area.

Police said there were no other passengers on the bus at the time. (Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times)

According to Delhi Police, the Class 11 student, who lives in Mainpuri, left home on August 3 without informing her parents after being reprimanded by her mother over her studies. She intended to travel to her cousin’s home in Sector 63, Noida, deputy commissioner of police (north) Niharika Bhatt said.

The girl told police that she accidentally got off at Pari Chowkafter darkness fell and it began raining. She then saw a bus approaching and signalled for it to stop, an officer familiar with the investigation said.

The conductor allegedly told her that the bus was headed towards Sector 63, following which she boarded it. Police said there were no other passengers on the bus at the time.

According to the police account, shortly after the bus began moving, the conductor allegedly behaved inappropriately towards the girl before he and the driver allegedly sexually assaulted her inside the moving bus.

In total, the bus covered around 47km between Pari Chowk in Greater Noida (from where the victim boarded to bus), to Ring Road near Kashmere Gate Inter-State Bus Terminal, where they dropped off the victim in the early hours of August 4. The bus travelled from Pari Chowk along the Greater Noida-Noida Expressway, entered Delhi through the Chilla border and passed through Mayur Vihar before taking the Ring Road towards Kashmere Gate.

Police said the bus had curtains covering its windows, making it difficult for people outside to see what was happening inside. “The larger problem was that the curtains had been drawn and the bus was moving. There was no way of knowing what was going on inside the bus,” an officer said.

DCP Bhatt did not comment on how many police checkpoints the bus crossed during its journey.

The girl approached the Kashmere Gate police station, following which Delhi Police registered an FIR under relevant sections of gang-rape, kidnapping, and assault of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

A Delhi Police team analysed CCTV footage and traced the bus to a parking area in Timarpur, around 15 minutes from Kashmere Gate, where the two accused were arrested within four hours, the police said.

The accused, both in their early 20s and originally from Kanpur, allegedly told investigators that the bus had “developed a mechanical problem” and had been taken to a workshop in Surajpur for repairs. After the repairs, they were returning with the empty bus to the Timarpur parking area when they allegedly spotted the girl near Pari Chowk, police said.

“The two decided to target her, misleading her about the destination,” an officer said, according to police.

DCP Bhatt said Delhi Police registered the case and arranged the girl’s medical examination because of the sensitive nature of the allegations and provisions of the new criminal laws.

She said that, “given the sensitive nature of the case and under the provision of the new laws, without getting into jurisdictional issues, we got the medical examination conducted of the victim and registered a case.”

Officials of Greater Noida police, however, said on Monday that the incident had not been reported to them before the Delhi Police publicly disclosed the arrests. In a statement, the force said the alleged incident took place “in the Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Commissionerate area” and that it “was not communicated or reported to the Noida Police by the Delhi Police prior to today”.

The statement also said there were “certain discrepancies between the available authentic evidence related to the incident and the version that has been issued”.

A Greater Noida police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that Delhi Police had not transferred the zero FIR despite the alleged offence occurring in its jurisdiction.

The officer said police were examining CCTV footage from Pari Chowk, where the girl allegedly boarded the bus, and questioned how the vehicle travelled through Delhi without being intercepted.

“It is not possible to check any bus on a busy expressway. However, we are recovering CCTV footage of Pari Chowk,” the Greater Noida police officer said, adding that the bus travelled more than 25km in Delhi before the girl was dropped at Kashmere Gate.

Responding to the statement, Delhi joint commissioner of police (northern range) Madhur Verma said, “We were very professional in our conduct. Under the new provisions of the BNS, crimes against women can be registered and investigated wherever they are reported. We immediately registered the case when the victim approached us and arrested the two accused and seized the vehicle within hours. They are still lodged in jail.”

Delhi Police said the bus had been seized and subjected to forensic examination, while CCTV footage from various points along the route had been collected as part of the investigation.

The girl was produced before the child welfare committee and handed over to her father on its directions, police said.