Dehradun, 18 Aug

The police here Sunday arrested five people in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a teenage girl in a Uttarakhand government bus after it arrived at the bus stand here from Delhi, officials said.

Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Singh said those arrested include the driver and the conductor of the government bus. He said the incident occurred on 12 August  at the bus stand here and the police were informed about it Saturday evening.

The police swung into action immediately and identified the roadways bus by scanning CCTV cameras and arrested the five accused, including its driver and the conductor, he said. The accused have been identified as: Dharmendra Kumar (32) and Rajpal (57), both residents of Buggawala in Uttarakhand's Haridwar; Devendra (52), a resident of Bhagwanpur in Haridwar; Rajesh Kumar Sonkar (38), a resident of Patel Nagar here; and Ravi Kumar (34), a resident of Nawabganj in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh.

He said that Dhamendra Kumar is the driver of the bus used in the incident and Devendra is the conductor. Ravi Kumar and Rajpal are drivers of other buses while Sonkar is a cashier of the Uttarakhand Roadways posted at the busstand.

The police officer said the bus used in the incident has been impounded and a forensic team is collecting evidence from inside. Police said the incident came to light after the Dehradun Child Welfare Committee (CWC) was informed about a girl, aged of 16-17, sitting alone on a bench at platform number 12 of the Interstate Bus Terminal (ISBT) here late night on 12 August.

The Dehradun CWC sent her to Bal Niketan, a government girls' home, for her safety. During counselling at the Bal Niketan, she informed the authorities about the alleged rape, after which CWC member Pratibha Joshi filed a police complaint on Saturday evening.

On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered at the Patel Nagar police station under section 70 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The SSP inspected the area, formed a special police team to investigate the incident, and also met the victim and inquired about what happened.

Police said that during preliminary interrogation, the girl told them she is an orphan and that she is a resident of Punjab. Later, she told them that she is a resident of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. She first went to Delhi from Moradabad and then took a bus from Kashmiri Gate in Delhi and to Dehradun, where she was allegedly raped.

Police said the girl kept changing her statements initially, but on interrogation she gave information about her family. Police contacted the family and found out that the victim's parents are alive. They were also told that the girl had fled her house in past also without informing anyone. However, every time the family brought her home after getting information about her through various sources.

According to the SSP, Devendra told the police during interrogation that he saw the girl at Kashmiri Gate ISBT in Delhi, seeking information about how to reach Punjab. The conductor suggested she board his bus to Dehradun and then take another to Punjab via Paonta Sahib, police said.

But after the bus reached Dehradun and all the passengers got off Devendra and driver Dhamendra allegedly raped her, police said, based on what Devendra told them. He said that when two other drivers -- Ravi and Rajpal -- of the buses parked nearby came to know about this, they also went inside the bus and allegedly raped her.

Devendra said that he went to deposit money at the cash counter after the incident and told the cashier, Sonkar, about this, after which he also allegedly raped the girl in the bus, according to police. The Congress has demanded strict action against the criminals.

Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara strongly condemned the incident on 'X' and said, "The incident of gang-rape of a teenager at a public place like the ISBT, where there is 24-hour movement of passengers and despite the police vigilance in view of the festivals, has exposed the government's attitude towards law and order and women's safety in Uttarakhand."

Referring to the recent alleged rape and murder of a female nurse working at a hospital in Rudrapur, the state Congress president said criminals in Uttarakhand do not have the slightest fear of law. Reacting to the statement of the Congress, BJP state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said daughters are safe in the state and immediate cognisance of every incident is being taken.

Accusing the Congress of doing “insensitive politics”, Chauhan said the Congress adopts double standards. He said the Congress has not yet been able to clarify its stand on the incident of rape and murder of a doctor in West Bengal.

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