New Delhi: Nearly a week after a minor was allegedly gang-raped by five employees of the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) at the Dehradun Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT), the police are still trying to ascertain parts of what happened to her with questions over her family’s actions, why she ran away from home, and what happened thereafter.
The 16-year-old left her house on the intervening night of 7 and 8 August with a packed bag, sources in the Dehradun Police said. They are yet to figure out why she left her home, why her family did not lodge a missing persons complaint and what happened during the four days between when she left her home and when she was found at the Dehradun ISBT.
Police came into the picture around 2.45 am on 12 August when a guard posted at the ISBT, curious about a minor girl sitting alone at a bench on platform number 12 so late in the night, alerted the child helpline of the Uttarakhand government.
A team of the Uttarakhand Child Welfare Committee (CWC) reached the Dehradun ISBT and had her admitted to the Balika Niketan. Her indifferent answers during the counselling sessions raised red flags. On Saturday, the police learned about the alleged crime that took place inside a bus at the ISBT.
The next day, the police arrested three drivers, one conductor and a cashier working with the UTC in connection with the crime.
Devendra, 52, a Haridwar resident and the conductor of the bus, was named as the prime accused for allegedly misdirecting the minor to lure her to Dehradun when she asked him about buses to Punjab at the Delhi ISBT.
The driver of the bus (UK 07 PA 5299) Dharmendra Kumar (32), the drivers of other buses Ravi Kumar (34), and Rajpal (57), and cashier Rajesh Sonkar (38) are the other arrested accused.
According to the police, Devendra and Dharmendra first allegedly raped the girl after all passengers alighted from the bus in the Dehradun ISBT. They then told Kumar and Rajpal, who allegedly raped her again.
Later, at the time of the deposit of the cash, Devendra shared information about her with the cashier, who allegedly raped her during the early hours of Tuesday.
“As soon as the case was registered, a team was constituted to analyse footage of CCTV cameras at the ISBT and we impounded the bus wherein the offence took place. Later on, these accused persons were picked up for questioning and the prime accused, Devendra, spilled the beans on how they raped the minor,” Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Ajai Singh told ThePrint.
He added that an eight-member Special Investigation Team headed by Dehradun City SP Pramod Kumar has been constituted to collect footage from the entire path covered by the bus from Delhi to Dehradun on 12 August.
‘Indifferent otherwise, consistent on assault’
Officials in both the police and CWC stated that the minor is mentally impaired, a “fact” that, police said, was corroborated by her father after he arrived in Dehradun Sunday night.
The CWC said that initially, during her counselling, she was unable to recall anything, especially about the assault. But over successive spells of counselling, she opened up. She first said she was an orphan from Punjab and revealed some details about the alleged sexual assault at the Dehradun ISBT.
While she remained consistent on the alleged assault by a group of people, the CWC members noticed inconsistencies in her statements when asked where she lived. She kept mentioning Punjab and Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district.
“There was a lack of clarity on whether she was mentally impaired or it was in the wake of the unbearable trauma, but she was not giving concrete and consistent replies to questions on where she belonged. She was consistent on only one aspect, which was about the assault by a group of men,” a person familiar with the details of the case said.
By Friday evening, the CWC had received a “comprehensive report” on the allegations of the minor and her mental status from the counselling team which confirmed sexual assault and related injuries.
A case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s section 70(2), which deals with gang rape of women under the age of 18, and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) dealing with the offence of gang-rape of a minor was filed at Dehradun’s Patel Nagar police station after a call from CWC member Pratibha Joshi.
After hours of comforting her, the minor finally told the police and child welfare officials about her family in Moradabad, and added that she had left home on at least six occasions. It was not, however, clear what prompted her to do so.
“We’ll move an application before the court to record the victim’s statement under 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and because she is mentally impaired, we’ll request for permission to record her statement in the presence of counsellors. The accused persons have been sent to judicial custody for now, but we’ll take them into police custody,” SSP Singh said.
Curious ‘lack of clarity’ on 4 days
Sources privy to the case details said that the minor has two brothers — one elder and one younger — and added that although she has some grievances against her elder brother, it did not indicate any concrete motive and did not appear to be anything more than a usual tiff between siblings.
The police are trying to piece together what happened after she left her house. Neither the Dehradun Police nor the CWC have been able to find what the minor did on the intervening nights of 7 and 8 August, when she left home, and 12 and 13 August, when she was rescued from the Dehradun ISBT. It was also not clear how she reached Delhi and why she wanted to go to Punjab.
An official aware of the case details said that the minor remained admitted at the Balika Niketan for her safety and security, where counselling sessions were ongoing.
“We can just hope that she will recall everything and will have things to share after continuous sessions of counselling,” another official said.
Although her father and the head of her ancestral village have reached Dehradun to join the probe, officials said she will not be handed over to the family straight away.
“There are provisions to keep minors at Balika Niketan and even Nari Niketan, and this case could be taken for consideration,” another official said.
This decision is dependent, officials said, on her father’s behaviour. “We need a proper response on why there wasn’t any missing complaint after she left home. If she has left home on several occasions in the past, what steps has the family taken to stop it and what will they do going forward,” an official quoted above explained.
“The father will have to give an undertaking that he will register himself with the nearest Child Welfare Committee in Moradabad and will appraise the committee after a stipulated period, only then will he be handed over the custody of the minor girl,” the official said.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Also Read: Incoming J&K DGP Nalin Prabhat is ‘field officer’ hardened by stints in Naxal hotbeds, South Kashmir
Life sentence or hang to death is not sufficient to these rapists. Some stricter punishment should be in force so that people think multiple times before conducting such heinous act.
Like cut some part of body like, hand or leg and leave to live rest of life.