New Delhi: The Delhi Police have arrested the driver and conductor of a sleeper bus for allegedly raping a 30-year-old woman inside the vehicle. Contradicting the police’s version of events that she boarded the bus after “agreeing to provide sexual services” to the duo, the woman told ThePrint Thursday that she was sexually assaulted and could not scream or shout for help because she was terrified.
“They kept misbehaving with me. I did not scream or shout because I was terrified. I was alone with these two men. All I could think about was, what if they attack me, hit me, or kill me,” the woman, a mother of three, told ThePrint.
The incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday, when the Delhi-Bihar route sleeper bus halted at Madhuban chowk in north-west Delhi’s Pitampura area on spotting the 30-year-old woman near the bus stop.
“The woman boarded the bus around 1 am after agreeing to provide sexual services to the bus driver, Raminder, and conductor, Umesh, in exchange of Rs 3,000,” a senior Delhi Police official told ThePrint.
Adding, “The bus was then driven from Madhuban chowk to Rani Bagh, Nangloi, where the duo stopped the vehicle and demanded that the woman provide sexual service.”
According to the police, Raminder later paid the woman Rs 1,500 and deboarded the bus for his residence, while Umesh told her that he did not have any money on him. “When the woman started pressuring Umesh for money, he called up Raminder and asked him to come and pay the remaining share, but Raminder refused,” a second Delhi Police official told ThePrint.
A verbal spat ensued between Umesh and the woman, said the police officials, following which a call was made to the police from Umesh’s phone.
“The caller informed the police that a woman had been raped inside a bus in Rani Bagh area,” said the second official.
The police reached the spot where the woman, a resident of Mangolpuri, was present, and subsequently arrested Umesh and began a search for Raminder.
“After scanning CCTV footage in the area and alerting local intelligence, we were able to nab the second accused in the matter from the Rani Bagh area,” DCP Singh told ThePrint.
The police have seized the vehicle and collected samples for forensic examination. A case has been registered at the Rani Bagh police station under sections 64 (1) (rape), 70(1) (gangrape), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
DCP Singh told The Print that the complainant recorded her statement before the magistrate where she said that the two accused had agreed to pay her Rs 3,000 in exchange for “sexual services”.
“She was not paid the full amount hence it is a sexual offence. We have found evidence of the monetary transaction as well,” said DCP Singh.
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‘What happened to me, shouldn’t happen to anybody else’
Speaking to ThePrint, the woman said she was standing at a bus stop in Mangolpuri and that part of the neighbourhood was completely deserted when a bus stopped by. “I asked the bus driver what time it was, and he replied to me saying it’s 12.10 am. He started speaking to me very rudely. He was abusive. He also passed lewd comments, and then an argument broke out between us. I also replied firmly.”
Then, the bus driver offered her water and allegedly pulled her inside the bus. “There was nobody in the area who I could have called for help. There were only CCTV cameras at the spot. Now that I realise, if there would have been anybody present, I could have maybe called for help,” she said.
According to her, she then sat down in the bus and they started to drive towards Nangloi. When they reached Nangloi, the bus stopped, and they eventually sexually assaulted her.
“Then, I told them to drop me. I used the phone of one of the accused to call the police. I told him I will not mention this to the police. Within five minutes, the police came and began investigating the matter. They spoke to me in detail about what had happened…and I told them,” she said.
She also told ThePrint that she had been visiting the police station by herself for the last two days. “What happened to me, shouldn’t happen to anybody else. The police worked quickly in my case, and have heard me out,” she said.
Afraid that the case might reveal her identity, she said she couldn’t muster the courage to explain what had happened to her family.
The woman’s husband told ThePrint over the phone Thursday: “My wife came home very late that day, and she had been feeling really sick. She had bodily injuries on her hands, legs, face. We got her MLC done, and found out what had happened…she briefly explained to me what happened inside the bus…”
The husband said that the two had gone to her brother’s house to help him relocate. While the husband returned home, the wife stayed back to help. Her brother then dropped her at a nearby bus stop. “My wife has been in constant touch with the police, and here I’m managing our three children, because they don’t know anything that happened,” the husband said.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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