Delhi bus gang-rape: Police probe teen’s nearly three-hour ordeal inside sleeper bus

The case involving the 17-year-old girl from UP’s Mainpuri, who was allegedly raped by the driver and conductor of a sleeper bus on the night of August 4, has thrown up fresh questions about what happened during her nearly three-hour ordeal.

Around midnight on August 4, an auto-rickshaw driver came across a distressed girl near Ring Road in the Kashmere Gate area. During a brief interaction, the 17-year-old told him that she had allegedly been “gang-raped” by the driver and conductor of a bus she had boarded at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida.

Three-hour ordeal unfolds

“The auto-rickshaw driver approached the girl after noticing that she appeared distraught. She was crying and seemed completely lost, unable to say where she was,” an officer familiar with the case told The Print.

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The driver then took the girl to Kashmere Gate Police Station, where she gave the police her father’s contact number and narrated what had happened to her. “She told us that she boarded the bus around 9 pm and was thrown out by the driver-conductor duo near Ring Road only around midnight,” the officer said.

The girl had left her home in Mainpuri following an argument with her mother over her studies. She was travelling to meet a cousin in Sector 63, Noida, but ended up at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida after losing her way.

Police trace bus, accused

The preliminary probe has established that the girl spent almost three hours inside the bus. “The journey from Pari Chowk to Kashmere Gate normally takes less than an hour. But the accused kept driving around for nearly three hours before taking the Expressway and leaving her near Kashmere Gate,” another officer said.

As per reports, the bus crossed into Delhi through the Chilla border, passed through Mayur Vihar and eventually reached the Ring Road near Kashmere Gate, where the teenager was allegedly abandoned.

The girl also told police that the conductor had initially asked where she wanted to go. When she named Sector 63 in Noida as her destination, he told her that the bus was headed there and convinced her to get on. “The conductor asked her where she wanted to go and, after hearing her destination, told her the bus was going that way and persuaded her to board,” the officer added.

The accused were later traced to Timarpur, where police found them resting inside the same bus. The vehicle was seized and sent for forensic examination as investigators began examining it and other evidence linked to the case.

Bus safety questions emerge

The investigation has also thrown up questions about the bus itself. According to the travel company's manager, the vehicle had been at a workshop in Surajpur since July 27 after developing a sensor problem. It was taken out on August 4 for further repairs in Timarpur.

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The bus, which has a Uttar Pradesh registration, was registered in Firozabad in April and has an all-India permit, according to Noida Assistant Regional Transport Officer Udit Narayan Pandey. It was being operated by a Noida-based travel company.

The incident has also raised fresh questions about the implementation of safety measures introduced for public and private passenger buses after the December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape, as well as checks along routes connecting Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.