A 16-year-old girl who had left her Mainpuri home after her mother scolded her over her studies was allegedly gang-raped inside an empty sleeper bus in Greater Noida, police said on Monday.
The driver and conductor of the bus, identified as Kuldeep and Sandeep, have been arrested. Police said the alleged incident took place near Pari Chowk on August 4.
Teen boards empty sleeper bus
The teenager, a resident of Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, had left home without telling her family and was travelling to Noida Sector 63, where her cousin lives.
According to police, she mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk during heavy rain and darkness. After realising that she was in the wrong place, she stopped a sleeper bus and asked about its destination, Hindustan Times reported.
The bus was empty and returning after repairs at a workshop in Surajpur. The conductor allegedly told her it was headed towards Noida Sector 63, following which she boarded the vehicle.
Driver, conductor booked
The girl alleged that the conductor began behaving inappropriately soon after the bus started moving. She told police that both men then sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she resisted.
The accused allegedly abandoned her near Delhi’s Ring Road and fled. She subsequently approached the police.
Deputy police commissioner (Delhi North District) Niharika Bhat said Kuldeep and Sandeep were arrested from a parking area in Timarpur the same day.
Police seized the bus and sent it for forensic examination. The vehicle had curtains covering its sleeper berths, and forensic teams recovered strands of the girl’s hair from inside.
The police also collected CCTV footage from the route taken by the bus on August 14, according to the report.
Both accused have been booked for gang rape, kidnapping and assault and sent to judicial custody. A child welfare committee handed the teenager back to her parents.
The case has also drawn attention because of its similarity to the circumstances surrounding the 2012 Delhi bus rape and murder that triggered nationwide outrage and led to tougher laws on crimes against women.