Teenager gangraped in bus at Dehradun ISBT, drivers among 5 arrested
The Uttarakhand Police on Sunday arrested five people for allegedly gang-raping a teenage girl in a government bus at the Interstate Bus Terminal in Dehradun, news agency PTI reported.
Dehradun senior superintendent of police Ajay Singh said hat two other drivers and a cashier working at the Dehradun ISBT were also arrested.
The incident took place on August 12, but the police were informed about it on Saturday.
The police said the Dehradun Child Welfare Committee (CWC) was informed about a teenage girl, sitting alone late night on a bench at Dehradun ISBT on August 12.
She was taken to Bal Niketan, a government girls’ home, where she subsequently informed the authorities about the alleged rape during counselling, PTI reported.
A first information report (FIR) was then registered registered at the Patel Nagar police station under section 70 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, based on a complaint filed by a CWC member on Saturday.
The police then swung into action and identified the bus by scanning CCTV cameras and arrested the five accused.
The accused have been identified as: Dharmendra Kumar (32) and Rajpal (57), both residents of Buggawala in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar; Devendra (52), a resident of Bhagwanpur in Haridwar; Rajesh Kumar Sonkar (38), a resident of Dehradun; and Ravi Kumar (34), a resident of Nawabganj in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh.
While Dhamendra Kumar is the driver of the bus used in the incident, and Devendra is the conductor, Ravi Kumar and Rajpal are drivers of other buses, while Sonkar is a cashier of the Uttarakhand Roadways at the bus stand, PTI added.
The girl initially told the police that she is from Punjab and an orphan, but later, upon interrogation, gave information about her family. She also told them that she is a resident of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and that she first went to Delhi and then took a bus to Dehradun, where she was allegedly raped.
What the accused told the police
Superintendent of Police Ajay Singh said one of the accused, Devendra, told the police that he saw the girl at the Kashmiri Gate ISBT in Delhi.
She sought information about how to reach Punjab from him, following which Devendra suggested that she take a bus to Dehradun and then take another one towards Punjab.
However, after the bus reached Dehradun and all the passengers got off, Devendra and driver Dharmendra allegedly raped her. He told the police that two other drivers– Ravi and Rajpal – of the buses parked nearby also learned about this. They also went inside the bus and allegedly raped the teenager.
Devendra then told about the incident to the cashier while depositing money, after which he also allegedly raped the girl on the bus.