Picture : ANI/X
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi has slammed the Centre as well as the governments of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh over the alleged gang-rape of a 17-year-old girl over a distance of 47 kilometres in a sleeper bus from Greater Noida to Delhi.
The Congress leader said that the failure of the police to stop, at any checkpoint, the bus that had curtains drawn around its sleeper berths reflected the government’s failure to protect women even years after the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape incident in the national capital.
In a post on X, Gandhi wrote, “Delhi NCR has become so unsafe for women that a minor girl was gang-raped for 47 kilometres in a sleeper bus from Greater Noida to Delhi. Astonishingly, neither the entire Delhi police nor the Noida police had the slightest inkling of it. This bus crossed the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, Delhi’s Ring Road, the border all of it without being stopped even once at a single checkpoint.”
He pointed out that curtains were drawn over the bus seats so that no one could see what was happening inside, adding that the perpetrators had no fear of the administration.
दिल्ली NCR महिलाओं के लिए इतना असुरक्षित हो चुका है कि एक नाबालिग बच्ची के साथ एक स्लीपर बस में 47 किलोमीटर तक गैंगरेप हुआ – ग्रेटर नोएडा से दिल्ली तक।
हैरानी की बात है कि पूरी दिल्ली या नोएडा पुलिस को इसकी भनक तक नहीं लगी। यह बस नोएडा-ग्रेटर नोएडा एक्सप्रेसवे, दिल्ली का रिंग… pic.twitter.com/VqL9Xo264j
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 1, 2026
“Curtains were drawn over the bus seats so no one could see what was happening inside. And the perpetrators had no fear of the administration whatsoever. Even after so many years since Nirbhaya, after so many such incidents, why are the rules for checking and monitoring such buses still not being followed? Those curtains weren’t just drawn on that one bus–they’re the result of curtains drawn year after year by the government over the administration’s failures, leaving women unable even to take a safe journey in the country’s capital,” Gandhi added.
Questioning accountability, Gandhi added, “How many more women and girls will have to endure this before the central and state governments finally fix this system? Will there be any accountability for the Delhi Police under Amit Shah, or the UP Police under Adityanath? Not a chance — this crime, too, will just have a curtain drawn over it.”
The 17-year-old girl, who was on her way from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh to Noida, has alleged that she was gang-raped inside a bus on the night of August 4, following which Delhi Police arrested the bus driver and conductor, officials said.
