New Delhi: In a re-run of the Nirbhaya case, a Class-XI student from Uttar Pradesh was allegedly gangraped inside a moving bus in the national capital recently.
Just as in that infamous case of 2012, the bus inside which the heinous crime allegedly occurred was a curtained one, with outsiders unable to know of the goings-on inside.
The driver and conductor of the bus have been arrested.
The incident reportedly took place on the night of August 4. The accused have been identified as bus driver Kuldeep and conductor Sandeep. The police have also seized the sleeper bus allegedly used in the crime and sent it for forensic examination, as reported by News18.
The 16-year-old survivor is from the Mainpuri district in Uttar Pradesh and had left home without informing her family following a disagreement. She was travelling to Noida to meet her cousin.
The student told the police that she got off at Pari Chowk by mistake amid heavy rain and darkness. Around that time, an empty sleeper bus approached the area. She apparently got on board after being told by the driver and conductor that they were travelling towards Sector 63 in Noida.
The conductor allegedly began making obscene advances towards the student soon after the bus started moving, the police said.
The survivor claimed that both the driver and conductor subsequently raped her and threatened to kill her when she resisted. The accused allegedly abandoned her on Ring Road near the Kashmere Gate bus terminal late at night before fleeing.
She then approached the Kashmere Gate police and reported the incident. Following the investigation, police arrested the two accused from a bus parking area in Timarpur.
The bus had earlier broken down and was taken to a workshop in Surajpur for repairs, the police said. The driver and conductor were reportedly taking the empty bus to Timarpur after the repairs when they found the student at Pari Chowk.
According to the police, the bus travelled around 47 kilometres from Pari Chowk to Kashmere Gate.