New Delhi, Oct. 8 -- A Delhi court has framed charges against a bus driver and conductor accused of kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old girl inside a sleeper bus in August, observing that the evidence against them would be tested during the trial.
Special Judge (POCSO) Sonam Gupta framed the charges a week after Delhi Police filed a chargesheet running into around 400 pages in the case.
The accused, Kuldeep and Sandeep, have been charged with kidnapping, wrongful confinement, kidnapping for marriage or sexual intercourse and gang-rape under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
They have also been charged under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
The court rejected the defence contention that the evidence had been "concocted" by police amid media pressure, saying the material would be tested during the course of the trial.
The matter has been listed for October 24 for recording of the victim's evidence. A detailed copy of the order was not available.
During the hearing, Special Public Prosecutor Nimmi Sisodia submitted that statements of the girl statement and other witnesses prima facie supported the prosecution case that the girl was taken away, confined inside the bus and sexually assaulted before being abandoned near Kashmere Gate.
According to the prosecution, the class 11 student from Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri was travelling to Noida on the night of August 4 to meet her cousin when she mistakenly got off at the wrong location amid heavy rain.
She allegedly flagged down a sleeper bus and its conductor told her that it was headed towards Noida Sector 63. Police, however, alleged that the bus was empty and was returning after undergoing repairs at a workshop in Greater Noida.
The prosecution alleged that after the bus started moving, the conductor behaved inappropriately with the girl and both he and the driver subsequently sexually assaulted her during the journey.
Police alleged that the accused also threatened to kill the girl if she resisted.
The accused allegedly left her near the Kashmere Gate bus terminal, following which she took an autorickshaw to the police station and reported the incident.
Police said the bus was traced through CCTV footage to a parking area in Timarpur within hours of the complaint and the two accused, both residents of Kanpur, were arrested.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.