Dehradun gang rape: Driver among five arrested for raping minor in Roadways bus | News from India

New Delhi: Uttarakhand police have arrested five people in connection with the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl in a state government bus after a bus arrived from Delhi, officials said.

Dehradun Police Commissioner Ajay Singh said those arrested included the driver and conductor of the government bus. He also said the incident, which took place at the local bus stand on August 12, was reported to the police on Saturday evening.

The police reacted quickly and identified the bus through CCTV footage and arrested the five accused, including the driver and conductor, he said, PTI reported.

The accused are 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 further informed that Dharmendra Kumar was the driver of the bus used in the incident and Devendra was the conductor, while Ravi Kumar and Rajpal were the drivers of other buses and Sonkar was working as a cashier of Uttarakhand Roadways at the bus stand.

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

Police said the incident came to light after the Dehradun Child Welfare Committee (CWC) was informed about a girl aged 16-17 sitting alone on a bench on platform 12 of the Interstate Bus Terminal (ISBT) late in the evening of August 12, PTI reported. The Dehradun CWC sent the victim to Bal Niketan, a government girls’ home, for her safety.

During the counselling session at Bal Niketan, she informed the authorities about the alleged rape, after which CWC member Pratibha Joshi filed a police complaint 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.