16-Year-Old Gang-Raped in Moving Bus on Noida-Delhi Route, Two Arrested

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by a bus driver and his conductor inside a moving sleeper bus on the night of August 4, after the duo offered her a lift during heavy rain in the Delhi-NCR region. The police confirmed the arrests of both accused on Monday.

The incident occurred around 11:30 p.m. during a roughly 60-kilometre route that began at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida. The girl, a Class 11 student, had left home to visit her cousin in Noida but lost her way in the downpour and reached Pari Chowk. An empty sleeper bus stopped when she signalled, and the driver and conductor offered to drop her at Noida's Sector 63.

According to the survivor's statement, the conductor began making obscene gestures shortly after the journey started. The two men then allegedly raped her inside the bus, threatening to kill her if she resisted. The bus passed Sector 63 without stopping and continued towards Delhi, eventually halting on the Ring Road near Kashmere Gate ISBT, where the girl was abandoned.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Niharika Bhatt stated that the accused deliberately drove further to leave the survivor far from the crime scene. The girl managed to reach the Kashmere Gate police station by auto-rickshaw and lodged a complaint. Police teams traced the vehicle with her help and arrested the driver, Kuldeep, and conductor, Sandeep (29), at a bus parking lot in Timarpur.

The sleeper bus, fitted with curtains around its berths, has been seized and sent for forensic examination. Police noted that the vehicle had been at a workshop in Surajpur for repairs and was being driven back to Timarpur when the accused encountered the girl. Sandeep has no prior criminal record. A chargesheet is being prepared.

The case has sparked political reactions. The Congress criticised the BJP governments in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, alleging a lack of patrolling and questioning their claims on women's safety. AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj also attacked Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, calling her approach to child rape cases "insensitive" and alleging Delhi was becoming a "capital of child rape."