Almost 14 years after the Nirbhaya gang rape shocked the nation and led to sweeping reforms in India’s rape laws, a fresh alleged sexual assault on a moving bus in Delhi has once again brought back the traumatic memories of 2012.
Investigators said that on Monday night, a 30-year-old woman was on her way home from work and had arrived at the B-block bus stand in the Saraswati Vihar area when men aboard a sleeper bus registered in Bihar allegedly raped her while the vehicle continued driving through the streets of Delhi.
The incident is a grim reminder of December 2012, when “Nirbhaya,” a medical student, boarded a private bus in Munirka and was savagely raped. The 23-year-old was attacked by six men inside the moving vehicle as it travelled through south Delhi. She later succumbed to her injuries at a hospital in Singapore.
Opposition says ‘a repetition of Nirbhaya’
AAP MP Sanjay Singh compared the two incidents, stating, “A gang rape in a moving bus, a repeat of the Nirbhaya case… Is this what security looks like in the national capital? Is this the level of safety being ensured for women and girls?”
The Nirbhaya case triggered widespread protests across the country. In the subsequent years, both the central government and the Delhi administration introduced a range of measures intended to protect women from violence. However, the latest incident has once again cast doubt on how effective these safeguards have actually been in practice.
Asking time turned into horror
The woman, employed at a factory in Mangolpuri and residing with her family in Pitampura, informed the police that a sleeper bus halted near the bus stand. When she asked a man standing beside the vehicle for the time, he allegedly signalled her to come nearer and then forcibly dragged her into the bus. According to police, the bus continued travelling for several kilometres towards Nangloi, during which two men allegedly sexually assaulted her inside the vehicle. A police officer connected to the investigation said the sleeper bus had curtains drawn over its windows, making it hard for people outside to see into the vehicle.
Abandoned near Nangloi Metro station
According to investigators, the bus ultimately halted near the Nangloi Metro station, where the accused is said to have left the woman before escaping.She subsequently informed the police, after which officers arrived at the location and took her to Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital for a medical examination. An FIR has been filed on charges of gang rape and under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. According to the police, the two accused identified as driver Umesh and conductor Ramendra have been arrested and remanded to judicial custody.