New Delhi, Aug 31 (PTI) Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday targeted the Delhi Police over its handling of the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in a moving bus, asking why the force was able to deploy thousands of personnel to deal with student protests but failed to prevent the crime.
In a video posted on X, Dipke claimed that the girl could have been saved and questioned the priorities of the police and the government in ensuring women’s safety in the national capital.
“When thousands of police and RAF personnel are deployed at Jantar Mantar to stop and harass students, what are they doing for women’s safety? When there is an actual crime, where does the tear gas go? Where do the pellet guns go? Why don’t your batons work? Your batons only work when students protest for their education,” he said.
The 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped inside a moving bus in Delhi, with the vehicle travelling around 43 km before she was allegedly abandoned.
Dipke said the incident raised questions about the presence and role of police forces in the national capital.
“That 16-year-old girl could have been saved. In India’s national capital, a girl is gang-raped in a moving bus, and the police are unable to do anything. And this is not the first time. This has happened many times in Delhi,” he said.
He alleged that the police response to protests was markedly different from its response to crimes against women.
“What is the job of these police forces? Is their job only to use batons when there is a protest? Where there is rape, where there is a crime, they just sit quietly,” Dipke said.
“This is the failure of the police; this is the failure of the home minister,” he said.
Dipke also raised concerns over women’s safety in Delhi, saying women continued to feel unsafe in the national capital.
“Even today, in 2026, no girl in Delhi feels safe. I have so many friends who tell me how unsafe Delhi is for them. When will the Delhi Police and the government be able to make girls feel safe?” he said.
Referring to police action during protests, he said, “When these girls come to protest, you use batons on them and break their heads. You use batons on 12-year-old girls and 17-18-year-old girls. But when it comes to criminals and rapists, where do the police batons go? Where does the tear gas go? Where do the pellet guns go?” Dipke demanded that the government take women’s safety seriously and ensure that women and girls can travel and move around the national capital without fear.
“When will the government take women’s safety seriously? When will the girls of India feel safe when they are out?” he asked.
The girl, who had boarded the bus at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida on the night of August 4 believing she would be dropped at Noida Sector 63, was allegedly raped by the driver and conductor while the vehicle was moving.
She was later abandoned near Kashmere Gate in north Delhi.
The two accused — bus driver Kuldeep, 39, and conductor Sandeep, 26, both residents of Kanpur — were arrested from a parking lot in Timarpur within hours after Delhi Police registered an FIR at the Kashmere Gate police station.
A senior police officer privy to the investigation said the entire route, from Pari Chowk to Kashmere Gate, is being mapped to ascertain the availability of police checkpoints, barricades, CCTV cameras and other surveillance mechanisms along the 43-km stretch. PTI AO PRK
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