Chilling reminder of Nirbhaya rape case: Woman gangraped on moving mini-bus in Bhopal

In a disturbing reminder of the December 16, 2012, gangrape in Delhi, a woman was allegedly raped in a moving local bus in Bhopal after she had boarded it late on Wednesday night, police said on Thursday.

According to SP (Bhopal South) Anshuman Singh, two persons, including the main accused and the driver of the bus, have been arrested in this connection. Police said that the woman, who was alone, took the bus at around 11 P.M. from the Chhola area. A man identified as 'Pandit' thereafter allegedly raped her on the moving bus. Police said the main accused was assisted in the alleged crime by two accomplices, one of whom was the driver of the mini-bus, identified as one Salman.

The bus was supposed to drop the woman off at Pul Bogda area, but did not stop there and took her to the Maida Mill area instead, which is an isolated place, police said. There, the woman was allegedly raped on the moving bus as it made rounds of the area.

The woman later went to a nearby police station where she narrated her ordeal following which Pandit and Salman were arrested, police added. The third accomplice, whose identity was not disclosed by police, is absconding. Police said he, too, would be caught soon and that further inquiries are on into the matter.

The country had been rocked in December 2012 by the ghastly case in Delhi in which a paramedical student was gangraped and brutalised on a moving bus. The victim later succumbed to her injuries at a Singapore hospital. Five persons were convicted in the case apart from a juvenile accused.