New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Delhi-NCR has become so unsafe for women that a minor girl was gang-raped for 47 kilometres in a sleeper bus travelling from Greater Noida to Delhi. He questioned whether anyone would be held accountable for the incident.
Rahul Gandhi took to the social media platform X and said, “Delhi NCR has become so unsafe for women that a minor girl was gang-raped for 47 kilometers in a sleeper bus – from Greater Noida to Delhi. It’s astonishing that neither the entire Delhi police nor the Noida police had the slightest inkling of it.”
He said the bus crossed several key routes and borders without being stopped at any checkpoint.
“This bus crossed the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, Delhi’s Ring Road, the border – all of it – without being stopped even once at a single checkpoint,” he said.
The Congress leader said the alleged perpetrators have no fear of the administration.
“Curtains were drawn over the bus seats so no one could see what was happening inside. And the perpetrators had no fear of the administration whatsoever,” Gandhi said.
He questioned why rules concerning the checking and monitoring of sleeper buses were still not being properly followed despite several years having passed since the 2012 Nirbhaya case.
“Even after so many years since Nirbhaya, after so many such incidents, why are the rules for checking and monitoring such buses still not being followed?” he asked.
Gandhi further said the incident reflected repeated failures in the administration and said such failures were being concealed by the government.
“Those curtains weren’t just drawn on that one bus – they’re the result of curtains drawn year after year by the government over the administration’s failures, leaving women unable even to take a safe journey in the country’s capital,” he said.
He also questioned how many more women and girls would have to suffer before the authorities took corrective measures.
“How many more women and girls will have to endure this before the central and state governments finally fix this system?” Gandhi asked.
He also questioned whether there would be accountability from the Delhi Police under Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Uttar Pradesh Police under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“Will there be any accountability for the Delhi Police under Amit Shah, or the UP Police under Adityanath? Not a chance – this crime, too, will just have a curtain drawn over it,” he said.
A 16-year-old girl was gang-raped inside an empty sleeper bus by its driver and conductor in Greater Noida earlier this month, police said on Monday, adding that both accused have been arrested in connection with the case.
According to police, the incident took place near Pari Chowk on August 4. The survivor alleged in her complaint that the two accused sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she resisted. They later abandoned her near Kashmere Gate in Delhi.
The accused, identified as driver Kuldeep and conductor Sandeep, were arrested from a parking area in Timarpur on the same day.
Police seized the bus and sent it for forensic examination. Investigators also collected CCTV footage from the route taken by the bus as part of the probe. Police said the footage was being examined to establish the sequence of events.
The teenager is a resident of Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh. Police said she had left her home without informing her family after her mother reprimanded her over her studies. She was travelling to Noida Sector 63, where her cousin lives.
According to the girl’s statement to police, she mistakenly got down at Pari Chowk amid heavy rain and darkness. After realising that she had reached the wrong location, she tried to find another vehicle and eventually stopped the sleeper bus. Police said there were no passengers inside the bus at the time.
–IANS
jk/dpb