A 17-year-old girl seeking help after leaving home was gang-raped on a moving sleeper bus. NEW DELHI: A 17-year-old girl’s search for help after leaving home following a tiff with her parents allegedly ended in a nightmare inside a moving sleeper bus, where two men offered to take her “your way” before allegedly gang-raping her and abandoning her around 30km away near Kashmere Gate.
The teenager had left her home in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, and planned to travel to Noida Sector 63 to meet her cousin and uncle. On the night of Aug 4, she reached Greater Noida's Pari Chowk but reportedly got off at the wrong spot amid heavy rain and darkness.
Stranded and searching for help, she signalled an empty sleeper bus passing through the area. The driver and conductor stopped and allegedly told her that they were headed towards Noida Sector 63, allowing her to board the vehicle.
What the girl did not know, police said, was that the bus was not operating on any passenger route at the time. The two accused — driver Kuldeep and conductor Sandeep, both from Kanpur — had allegedly been instructed to take the vehicle for repairs.
The bus had been at a workshop in Surajpur since July 27 because of a malfunctioning sensor and was taken out on Aug 4 for further repairs in Timarpur, according to the travel company's manager. As soon as the bus began moving, the conductor allegedly started making advances towards the teenager.
“The accused stopped and told her the bus was headed towards Noida Sector 63 and allowed her to get in,” a senior police officer said. DCP (North) Niharika Bhatt said both men sexually assaulted the girl inside the moving bus and threatened to kill her when she resisted.
The assault allegedly took place over a stretch of around 30km between Pari Chowk and Noida Sector 63. Curtains covering the bus windows meant that nothing inside the vehicle was visible from the road.
After reaching the Noida side, the bus continued towards Delhi. The accused allegedly abandoned the teenager on Ring Road near Kashmere Gate, apparently believing that taking her far away from the alleged crime scene would make it harder to link them to the offence.
The girl then approached police and reported the incident. Delhi Police took cognisance of the case after the complaint was filed in the capital, even though the alleged assault took place in Noida.
