Delhi gangrape: Bus was on road because agencies didn’t team up, says panel

Two months after a 23-year-old paramedic student was brutally gangraped on board a moving bus, and succumbed to injuries later in a Singapore hospital, a commission set up to probe the incident highlighted the lack of coordination between police and the city transport department.

The Justice Usha Mehra commission said "lack of coordination between them allowed the bus used in the December 16 gangrape case to ply uninterrupted despite being fined many times".

After the victim was shifted to the Singapore hospital on December 26, two commissions were set up to investigate the lapses and offer suggestions — Justice Mehra commission and Justice Verma commission.

Earlier, the Verma commission had made note of the "callousness" of policemen while handling rape cases.

Justice Mehra commission said there are no guidelines or rules for coordination between the capital's police and its counterparts in the neighbouring states, and sought framing of rules for better cooperation.

"We have recorded the statements of officials of the Delhi Police and the city transport department. We have found that there was lack of coordination between the police and the transport department. Despite being challaned many times, there was no action to prevent the plying of the bus," Justice Mehra said, while handing over the report to Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.

In her report, Justice Mehra said they have evidence to suggest that "when the accused were driving the bus on the roads in south Delhi, while brutally assaulting the 23-year-old woman, there was no PCR vans to stop the bus or police picket on the roads."

She, however, said the response of police was "very quick" when the woman and her friend called for help. The report said within six minutes of the message, a PCR van reached the stop and the two were taken to a hospital for treatment — a fact corroborated by the friend of the gangrape victim.

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