New Delhi, Sep 2026 : Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday questioned the safety of women in the Delhi-NCR region following the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl inside a sleeper bus travelling from Greater Noida to Delhi.
Gandhi alleged that the teenager was assaulted over a stretch of nearly 47 kilometres and questioned how the bus managed to travel through major roads and border points without being intercepted or checked by law enforcement agencies.
Taking to X, the Congress leader said the incident demonstrated serious concerns about the safety of women and girls in the national capital region. He questioned how the Delhi and Noida police could remain unaware of an alleged crime taking place inside a bus travelling across the region.
According to Gandhi, the bus crossed the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, Delhi’s Ring Road and the inter-state border without being stopped at any checkpoint. He also alleged that curtains inside the sleeper bus prevented people outside from seeing what was happening inside.
Gandhi questioned whether authorities had adequately implemented regulations governing the inspection and monitoring of sleeper buses, particularly in view of the lessons from the 2012 Nirbhaya case and several subsequent crimes against women.
He said the alleged incident raised questions about the effectiveness of the existing policing and monitoring system. Gandhi also criticised governments for what he described as repeated failures in ensuring women’s safety, arguing that such failures could not be allowed to remain hidden.
The Congress leader asked how many more women and girls would have to suffer before corrective measures were taken by the central and state governments. He specifically questioned whether accountability would be fixed in the Delhi Police, which comes under the Union Home Ministry, and the Uttar Pradesh Police.
The remarks came after police in Greater Noida said a 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped inside an empty sleeper bus by the driver and conductor earlier this month. Both accused have been arrested in connection with the case.
According to police, the alleged incident occurred near Pari Chowk on August 4. The teenager told investigators that the two accused sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she resisted. The girl was subsequently abandoned near Kashmere Gate in Delhi.
Police identified the accused as bus driver Kuldeep and conductor Sandeep. Both were arrested from a parking area in Timarpur on the same day, according to officials.
The police seized the bus and sent it for forensic examination as part of the investigation. Investigators have also collected CCTV footage from locations along the route to reconstruct the sequence of events and establish the movements of the bus.
Officials said the footage is being examined as investigators work to verify the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault and the subsequent abandonment of the survivor.
The teenager, who is from Mainpuri district in Uttar Pradesh, had reportedly left her home without informing her family after being reprimanded by her mother over her studies. She was travelling towards Noida Sector 63, where her cousin resides.
According to her statement to police, she mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk during heavy rain and darkness. After realising that she had reached the wrong location, she attempted to find another vehicle. She eventually stopped the sleeper bus, which police said did not have any passengers at the time.
The case has once again brought the safety of women travelling in public and private transport under scrutiny. The investigation is continuing, with police examining forensic evidence and CCTV footage to establish the complete sequence of events.
Gandhi’s intervention has also placed renewed political focus on the enforcement of safety regulations for sleeper buses and the responsibility of law enforcement agencies to monitor passenger transport across state and city boundaries.
The incident has raised broader questions over whether existing surveillance, checkpoint and passenger-safety mechanisms are adequate to prevent crimes against women during inter-city journeys. It has also revived concerns about the implementation of safeguards introduced following the Nirbhaya case more than a decade ago.
