14 years after Nirbhaya, 16-year-old gang-raped in moving bus in Delhi

Nearly 14 years after the horrific Nirbhaya case, in which a 23-year-old woman was gang-raped inside a moving bus in Delhi, a similar incident has been reported in the national capital.
A 16-year-old class 11 student was allegedly gang-raped inside a sleeper bus in Delhi’s Kashmere Gate area. Police have arrested the bus driver and conductor in connection with the incident.

The incident occurred on August 4 when the girl, a resident of Mainpuri district in Uttar Pradesh, was travelling to Noida to meet her cousin.

The girl left her home on August 4 after being upset over being scolded by her mother a day earlier. She boarded a bus for Noida Sector 63, where her cousin lives, PTI reported citing sources.

The girl told police that due to heavy rain and darkness in Noida, she mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk and soon realised that she had alighted at the wrong place.

She then saw a bus approaching and signalled to it for help. The bus stopped, but there were no passengers inside. The conductor told her that they were going towards Noida Sector 63, following which she boarded the sleeper bus.

However, shortly after the bus started moving, the conductor allegedly began making obscene advances towards her. The driver and the conductor allegedly gang-raped the girl inside the bus and threatened to kill her if she resisted.

The accused later abandoned her near the Kashmere Gate bus terminal on Ring Road late at night and fled.

The girl then approached the Kashmere Gate police and narrated the incident. She was assisted by the police and then sent for a medical examination with a woman police personnel. An FIR was subsequently registered based on her statement under relevant sections relating to gang rape, kidnapping and assault.

A team examined CCTV footage and traced the bus and the conductor, who was arrested from a parking facility in Timarpur. The bus has been seized and subjected to forensic examination. CCTV footage has also been taken into possession as part of the investigation.

The incident bears a disturbing similarity to the Nirbhaya case, in which a 23-year-old woman was brutally assaulted and gang-raped inside a moving bus in south Delhi on December 12, 2012.

The woman succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012, triggering widespread protests across the country and renewed demands for stronger laws to protect women.

The 2012 incident led to several changes in India’s approach to women’s safety and sexual violence, including the enactment of the Nirbhaya Act (Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013). The law introduced stricter punishments for sexual offences and strengthened legal provisions dealing with crimes against women.