Noida Gang Rape Survivor Tried To Escape, Bus Conductor Locked Door: Cops

The Delhi Police has filed a 398-page chargesheet against a sleeper bus driver and conductor for allegedly gangraping a minor during a journey from Greater Noida to Delhi in August, with biological evidence, including semen samples and hair strands, collected from the vehicle forming a key part of the case.

The chargesheet was filed before a city court on September 18 and the court took note on September 24, police said.

The incident allegedly occurred on the night of August 4 when the minor, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, boarded the bus in Greater Noida after being told that it was headed towards Noida Sector 63, where she wanted to go.

According to the police, the minor realised after boarding that there were no other passengers and tried to get off. However, the conductor allegedly prevented her from leaving and locked the door.

The bus subsequently travelled towards Delhi and the minor was allegedly assaulted inside it before being dropped near the Kashmere Gate bus terminal, where she filed a police complaint. Taking immediate action, police traced the bus and arrested the bus driver and the conductor, police said.

Multiple police teams examined CCTV footage along the route and traced the bus to a parking area in Timarpur within hours, leading to the arrest of driver Kuldeep and conductor Sandeep, both residents of Kanpur.

The chargesheet has cited 10 police personnel, doctors and others as witnesses. During the forensic examination of the bus, investigators recovered biological evidence, including alleged semen samples and hair strands, which were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination.

The probe also brought to light several safety and regulatory lapses involving the bus. It had 11 pending traffic challans, including seven issued in July for alleged overspeeding.

The bus's CCTV camera was found non-functional and curtains had been installed on its windows. Investigators also found that the vehicle lacked safety features such as a panic button and a vehicle tracking system.

Police said the two accused had allegedly been employed without police verification.

The incident brought back memories of the 2012 Nirbhaya incident, where a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was brutally raped and tortured in a bus before being dumped on a road.

The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of news reports about the sleeper bus incident and other crimes against minor girls and women across Delhi-NCR, observing that such cases underline a systematic failure on the part of law enforcement authorities.

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran said one cannot help but draw painful parallels to the 2012 Nirbhaya case, calling into question whether systemic law enforcement mechanisms have made any meaningful progress in the decade since then.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)