The incident mirrors a crime from barely three months ago in May, when a 30-year-old woman was gang-raped inside a similar bus in northwest Delhi’s Rani Bagh. New Delhi: Alarm bells are once again ringing across Delhi-NCR following a sexual assault inside an interstate private sleeper bus. The recurrence of such heinous crimes inside commercial passenger vehicles highlights a grim reality: unregulated private transport fleets are operating with near impunity across state lines.
Bus operators must strictly enforce safety tech requirements, including operational GPS tracking, functional CCTV cameras and panic buttons linked to police control rooms, they said. A centralised database that cross-references criminal antecedents before granting entry permits into Delhi is also critical, officers said. The rampant practice of halting on flyovers and main arterial roads must be met with a zero-tolerance policy,” a retired DCP said. Besides mandatory background checks of all out-of-state drivers and conductors, they should also undergo awareness campaigns, said officers.
However, in recent crimes, they have turned into public safety threats, with drivers and conductors being accused of getting involved in sexual offences and looting passengers. In Jan, the driver and the conductor of a private bus were arrested in east Delhi for allegedly luring passengers with cheap fares before assaulting and robbing them on Delhi-Meerut Expressway. Serving and retired police officers pointed out that preventing these recurring crimes would require a comprehensive plan. The authorities must ensure unhindered cabin visibility by banning curtains around sleeper berths, with heavy financial penalties imposed on transport companies that fail to adhere to these mandates or deploy unverified staff. “Police must also conduct surprise on-board and luggage inspections at major interchanges across the city. Agencies must systematically eliminate illegal pick-up and drop-off spots. All private operators should pick up and drop passengers only within the safe confines of monitored, well-lit interstate terminals.