UP teen gang-raped on moving bus in Noida; dumped 40 km away in Kashmere Gate

A 16-year-old girl, who boarded a sleeper bus in Greater Noida on a rainy night earlier this month, was allegedly gang-raped by its conductor and driver and abandoned near Kashmere Gate, more than 40 km away in Old Delhi, police said.

The two accused have been arrested, they said.

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.

Upset after being scolded by her mother, the girl from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh left home and boarded a bus for Noida Sector 63, where her cousin lives, police said.

She mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida amid heavy rain around 9 pm, the Class 11 student told police.

Standing in pouring rain, the girl realised that she was still about 25 km away from her cousin's place. As she searched for transport to reach there, a bus stopped near her.

According to police, the conductor allegedly told her that they were headed to Sector 63 and would drop her off there. Trusting his words, the girl boarded the bus.

The bus, however, was not on regular passenger service that night. According to the travel company and investigators, it had been taken to a workshop at Surajpur in Greater Noida for repairs after developing a technical fault.

The two accused picked up the bus from the workshop around 5 pm and began their journey around 9 pm. They travelled from Surajpur to Pari Chowk, where they picked up the girl on the pretext of giving her a lift, before proceeding towards Kashmere Gate. En route, they gang-raped the girl, she alleged in her complaint.

The girl was abandoned at Kashmere Gate, from where she managed to take an auto-rickshaw to the police station.

In a video statement, DCP (North) Niharika Bhatt said that without going into any jurisdiction issue, Delhi Police registered an FIR and launched a search to arrest the accused.

Sharing details, the DCP said, “On the night of August 4, the victim came to the Kashmere Gate police station and told police that she had been raped on a moving bus in Noida.

“On being questioned, it was revealed that the girl was travelling from Mainpuri to Sector 63, Noida, to stay at a relative's house.”

The girl alleged that she was raped on the way from Pari Chowk to Sector 63. After the incident, the driver and the conductor took the bus to Ring Road and abandoned her within the jurisdiction of the Kashmere Gate police station.

“Police got the victim medically examined, which confirmed rape, and registered a case without getting into jurisdictional issues,” the DCP said.

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

With the help of CCTV camera footage, police traced the bus within a few hours and arrested the accused – bus driver Kuldeep (39) and conductor Sandeep (26), both residents of Kanpur – from a parking lot in north Delhi's Timarpur, police said.

Police have seized the bus and conducted a potency test on the accused, officials said.

According to the girl, the conductor allegedly made inappropriate advances towards her soon after she boarded the bus, before he and the driver sexually assaulted her. The two men allegedly threatened to kill her when she resisted, police said.

The bus travelled nearly 43 km from Greater Noida to Kashmere Gate without stopping, passing through several locations with CCTV cameras, police posts, and barricades.

Investigators are now examining the route to ascertain how the bus went unchecked for such a long distance and to identify the exact locations where it may have stopped before abandoning the girl.

A police officer requesting anonymity claimed that the route largely comprised the Ring Road and highway, where putting up frequent barricades is difficult as it can lead to severe traffic congestion.

However, the officer said that there was police deployment on the Noida-Delhi border points.

Police have collected CCTV camera footage from various locations along the route and are retracing the movement of the bus to reconstruct the sequence of events.

According to Monu, manager at Vishwanath Travels that operated the bus, it was under renovation at the time of the incident and did not have operational CCTV cameras.

He said the bus had been taken to Surajpur for repair work after which it was being taken to Kashmere Gate for painting.

The sleeper berths inside the bus had company-fitted curtains, which allegedly allowed the accused to conceal their activities from people outside.

During forensic examination, strands of the girl's hair were found inside the bus, police said. Further forensic examination of the bus is underway, they said.

“We didn’t know what happened that day… We learned through police afterwards. We have provided all the information we have and are cooperating with the investigation,” Monu said.

According to the travel company, both Kuldeep and Sandeep had been working with Vishwanath Travels for more than two years.

Police are now verifying whether the two men have criminal records and examining if the bus owner or the travel company properly vetted their backgrounds before hiring them.

“Police informed the girl's family about the incident the same night and called them to Delhi. She was handed over to the family after completing the necessary formalities,” an officer said.

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.