The driver and conductor of a sleeper bus were arrested for allegedly gang-raping a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh after misleading her into boarding the vehicle in Greater Noida, eventually dropping her off near Kashmere Gate, earlier this month, Delhi Police said on Monday.
Greater Noida, Delhi police spar over jurisdiction
The arrests, however, triggered a jurisdictional dispute, with UP police alleging that Delhi Police did not inform them about the incident despite the alleged sexual assault taking place in the Gautam Buddh Nagar commissionerate area. The girl approached the Kashmere Gate police station, following which Delhi Police registered an FIR under relevant sections of gang-rape, kidnapping, and assault of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The Class 11 student, who lives in Mainpuri , left home on August 3 without informing her parents after being reprimanded by her mother over her studies, according to Delhi Police. She intended to travel to her cousin’s home in Sector 63, Noida, deputy commissioner of police (north) Niharika Bhatt said. The conductor allegedly told her that the bus was headed towards Sector 63, following which she boarded it.
The girl told police that she accidentally got off at Pari Chowk after darkness fell and it began raining. She then saw a bus approaching and signalled for it to stop, an officer familiar with the investigation said. Police said there were no other passengers on the bus at the time. Shortly after the bus began moving, the conductor allegedly behaved inappropriately towards the girl before he and the driver allegedly sexually assaulted her inside the moving bus, according to the police account. The two men allegedly threatened to kill her when she resisted, police said. In a statement, the force said the alleged incident took place “in the Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Commissionerate area” and that it “was not communicated or reported to the Noida Police by the Delhi Police prior to today”.
Officials of Greater Noida police, however, said on Monday that the incident had not been reported to them before the Delhi Police publicly disclosed the arrests.
