Police on Sunday (August 18, 2024) arrested five persons in connection with the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl in a Uttarakhand government bus after it arrived at the Dehradun bus stand from Delhi, officials said.

Dehradun Police Commissioner Ajay Singh said those arrested included the driver and conductor of the government bus. He said the incident took place at the bus stand on August 12 and the police were informed about it on Saturday evening.

The police immediately took action and identified the bus through the surveillance cameras and arrested the five accused, including the driver and the conductor, he said.

The accused have been identified as: Dharmendra Kumar (32) and Rajpal (57), both residents of Buggawala in Haridwar, Uttarakhand; Devendra (52), a resident of Bhagwanpur in Haridwar; Rajesh Kumar Sonkar (38), a resident of Patel Nagar and Ravi Kumar (34), a resident of Nawabganj in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh.

He said that Dhamendra Kumar was the driver of the bus used in the incident and Devendra was the conductor. Ravi Kumar and Rajpal were the drivers of other buses while Sonkar was a cashier of Uttarakhand Roadways and was standing at the bus stop.

The police officer said the bus used in the incident had been impounded and a forensics team was collecting evidence inside.

Police said the incident came to light after the Dehradun Child Welfare Committee (CWC) was informed about a 16-17-year-old girl sitting alone on a bench at Platform 12 of the Interstate Bus Terminal (ISBT) late in the evening of August 12.

The Dehradun CWC sent her to Bal Niketan, a government girls’ home, for her safety.

During a consultation at Bal Niketan, she informed the authorities about the alleged rape, after which CWC member Pratibha Joshi filed a complaint with the police on Saturday evening.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered at Patel Nagar police station under Section 70(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The SSP inspected the area, formed a special police team to investigate the incident and also met the victim to enquire about the incident.

Police said that during preliminary interrogation, the girl stated that she was an orphan and lived in Punjab.

She later told them that she lived in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. From Moradabad, she first travelled to Delhi and then took a bus from Kashmiri Gate in Delhi to Dehradun, where she was allegedly raped.

According to police, the girl initially constantly changed her statements, but during questioning she provided information about her family.

The police contacted the family and found that the victim’s parents were still alive and were also told that the girl had also run away from her house in the past without informing anyone.

However, the family took her home each time after receiving information about her from various sources.

According to SSP, Devendra told police during interrogation that he saw the girl at Kashmiri Gate ISBT in Delhi when she was seeking information on how to reach Punjab.

The conductor suggested that she board his bus to Dehradun and then take another one to Punjab via Paonta Sahib, police said.

But after the bus reached Dehradun and all the passengers got off, she was allegedly raped by Devendra and the driver Dhamendra, police said based on what Devendra told them.

He said that when two other drivers – Ravi and Rajpal – of the buses parked nearby came to know about it, they also went into the bus and allegedly raped her.

Devendra said that after the incident, he went to the cash register to deposit money and told the cashier, Sonkar, about it. After that, he allegedly raped the girl in the bus as well, according to the police.

Congress demanded strict action against the criminals.

Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee chief Karan Mahara strongly condemned the incident at the ‘X’ and said, “The incident of gang rape of a teenage girl at a public place like ISBT, where people are roaming round the clock and despite police vigilance in view of the festivals, has exposed the government’s attitude towards law and order and safety of women in Uttarakhand.” Referring to the recent alleged rape and murder of a nurse working at a hospital in Rudrapur, the state Congress chief said criminals in Uttarakhand do not have the slightest fear of the law.

Reacting to the Congress statement, BJP media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said the daughters were safe in the state and any incident would be promptly taken note of.

Accusing the Congress of playing “insensitive politics”, Chauhan said the Congress was applying double standards. He said the Congress was yet to clarify its stand on the incident of rape and murder of a doctor in West Bengal.