Minor gang-raped on sleeper bus from Greater Noida to Delhi

A 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh was allegedly gang-raped by a bus driver and conductor inside a moving sleeper bus. The incident took place during a 47-kilometre journey from Greater Noida to Old Delhi on the night of August 4. The crime surfaced after the Delhi police confirmed on Monday, nearly a month after the incident.

Police used CCTV footage and other investigative inputs to trace the bus to a parking facility in Timarpur, north Delhi. The accused, identified as driver Kuldeep, 39, and conductor Sandeep, 26, have been arrested, and the bus has been seized and sent for forensic examination, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Niharika Bhatt said. Police said Sandeep has no prior criminal record.

The crime, which brought back painful memories of the 2012 gang-rape and murder in Delhi known as the Nirbhaya case, took place on the night of August 4.

Investigators have also examined the circumstances in which the bus was being operated. According to police sources, the vehicle had earlier developed a technical fault and had been taken to a workshop in Surajpur, Greater Noida, for repairs. After the repairs, Kuldeep and Sandeep were driving the empty bus towards Timarpur when they encountered the girl.

According to police, the girl, a class 11 student from Mainpuri district, left home without informing her family on August 4 after being scolded by her mother a day earlier. She was travelling to Noida Sector 63 to meet her cousin.

Amid heavy rain and darkness, she mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida, believing she had reached her destination, police said. Realising her error, she signalled an approaching empty sleeper bus for help. The conductor told her the bus was headed to Noida Sector 63 and offered her a lift, following which she boarded the vehicle.

According to the girl’s statement to police, the conductor began behaving inappropriately soon after the bus started moving. The driver and conductor then sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she resisted, DCP Bhatt said.

The bus, which had been returning empty from a repair workshop in Greater Noida’s Surajpur area, continued on toward Delhi. The girl was allegedly assaulted through the length of the journey before being abandoned near Ring Road, close to Kashmere Gate ISBT, late that night. The accused then fled.

The girl approached Kashmere Gate police station and reported the assault. Police arrested both accused the same day from a bus parking lot in north Delhi’s Timarpur. Police said the sleeper bus had curtains fitted throughout, meaning people outside would not have been able to see what was happening inside the vehicle during the journey.

A forensic team examining the bus found strands of the girl’s hair inside, according to reports. Police have also conducted potency tests on the accused following their arrest. An officer investigating the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, said frequent barricading along the route had been difficult since much of it ran through highways and Ring Road, where checks risked causing severe traffic congestion. Police personnel had, however, been deployed near the Delhi border at the Noida entry point.

The officer said police informed the girl’s family about the incident the same night and called them to Delhi. A woman police officer remained with the girl and assisted her until her family arrived. The girl was later produced before the Child Welfare Committee and, on its orders, handed over to her father. According to the sources, it has been identified that both men are employees associated with the private bus operator. Their exact roles and movements before and after the alleged crime are being examined as part of the investigation.

Police said the case was registered without delay despite questions of jurisdiction, given that the assault began in Uttar Pradesh and continued into Delhi, and that CCTV footage helped trace the bus and identify the accused within hours. The investigation is ongoing, and police have not disclosed further details of the questioning of the two accused or the timeline for filing a chargesheet in the case.

In the 2012 Nirbhaya incident, a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern and her male friend had boarded an off-duty private bus after watching a movie. The girl was tortured and gang-raped inside the bus by six men, including the driver, who also thrashed her friend before throwing the duo from the moving vehicle. The incident triggered nationwide outrage and led to the passage of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which transformed India’s legal framework regarding sexual offences.