The case of a 30-year-old woman allegedly being gang-raped by two men inside a private sleeper bus in outer Delhi’s Rani Bagh area in the early hours of Tuesday has sent shockwaves across the country. The survivor’s husband has now demanded strict action against the accused.
The incident, which reminded many of the Delhi gangrape-murder case of the 23-year-old woman later known as Nirbhaya, took place on May 11. The two accused were arrested a day later.
ALSO READ | ‘Who will cook at home’: Why Delhi bus gang rape survivor refused to get admitted to hospital
Woman survivor’s husband on gang-rape case
The woman’s husband, in a conversation with HT, said he spent the entire night waiting for her return and only heard from her the next day, when she called from Rani Bagh police station and asked him to come there.
When HT visited the family’s home in Pitampura, the woman’s 30-year-old husband and their three daughters, aged four, six and nine, were present.
“On Monday, we all went to her brother’s house in Sutanpuri to help him shift houses. While my daughters and I came back, she stayed on. She wasn’t carrying a phone. I called her brother around 10:30pm and he said that she had left. I waited for her all night but she didn’t come,” her husband said.
“When I reached (the police station), she told me that she had been raped and that she was being taken to court for a statement before the magistrate,” the husband added.
He said his wife suffered injuries during the attack and had minor wounds on her face and hands. “One of her relatives dropped her near S Block. We got to know that she was dragged inside the bus and two men raped her. We are getting complete support from police,” he told news agency PTI.
He added that police officers on duty helped the survivor as soon as she arrived at the station. Her statement was recorded, she was taken to the hospital and the accused were later arrested.
“We request for strict punishment for the accused,” he added.
Delhi gang-rape case
Police said the woman, who works at a factory in Mangolpuri and lives in Pitampura with her family, was on her way home after work when the incident happened near the B-block bus stand in the Saraswati Vihar area.
According to her complaint, she travelled part of the journey in an e-rickshaw and then continued on foot. A sleeper bus stopped near the bus stand. The survivor told police that she asked a man standing near the bus for the time, after which he gestured towards her to come closer and then pulled her inside, as mentioned in an earlier HT report.
The woman alleged that two men sexually assaulted her inside the moving bus as it travelled several kilometres towards Nangloi. Police said the bus later stopped near the Nangloi Metro station, where the accused left her behind.
Deputy commissioner of police (outer) Vikram Singh said a case was registered against the two men on Tuesday under sections 64(1) (rape), 70(1) (gang rape), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
A senior police officer told HT that the accused were identified as Umesh Kumar and Ramendra Kumar, both originally from Uttar Pradesh and in their late 30s. Police said both men were arrested and sent to judicial custody on Tuesday.
