A helpless teenage girl who lost her way amid heavy rain and darkness and sought shelter was brutally assaulted inside a moving sleeper bus in an incident reminiscent of the Nirbhaya case. The incident involving a 16-year-old Class 11 student has triggered strong reactions across the country. After committing the crime in the dark of the night, the driver and conductor of the bus abandoned the victim near a busy flyover in the capital city and fled.
According to details of the incident, the girl, a resident of Mainpuri district in Uttar Pradesh, had left home after a minor argument with her mother to go to a relative’s house in Noida. But on reaching Noida, due to heavy rain and darkness, she mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk instead of her intended destination. Realizing her mistake, she stopped a sleeper bus passing by for help, and the conductor of the bus gave her false assurance that they were going to that same location and took her on board.
Taking advantage of the fact that there were no other passengers on the bus, the driver and conductor brutally assaulted the girl as soon as the vehicle started moving. They threatened to kill her if she resisted and gang-raped her. Later that night, they dumped the girl on Ring Road near Kashmere Gate Bus Terminal and fled with the vehicle.
The victim somehow managed to reach Kashmere Gate Police Station and reported the entire incident, following which police swung into action. With the help of a woman police officer, she was sent for medical examination and a case was registered under sections related to kidnapping and rape.
Subsequently, after examining CCTV footage from the area, police seized the bus from a parking lot in Timarpur and arrested the accused driver and conductor. A forensic team has collected necessary evidence from the bus and after completion of all legal formalities in presence of her family members, the girl was handed over to her family.
