Uttarakhand police have arrested five men on the charge of gang-raping a minor girl inside a stationary private bus at the inter-state bus terminus in Dehradun last week.

Some people had spotted the victim, with severe injuries to her face and neck, at the terminus on August 13 morning and called the police. She was too much in shock to tell the police anything but later told a psychologist during counselling that five bus employees had gang-raped her.

Dehradun senior superintendent of police Ajai Singh told reporters on Sunday that the five arrested men included the driver of a private bus, Dharmendra Kumar, 32, and its conductor, Devendra Kumar, 52. Both are from Haridwar.

The other suspects — a bus driver, a bus stand cashier, and a cleaner — have been identified as Ravi Kumar, 34, of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh; Rajpal Singh, 57, of Haridwar and Rajesh Kumar Sonkar, 38, of Dehradun, respectively.

“These bus employees brought the girl from Delhi
to Dehradun and committed the crime inside the bus. The bus has been seized,” Singh said.

Opposition parties have alleged a “jungle raj” in Uttarakhand, expressing surprise that such a brutal crime could have been committed at a place that is supposed to be well-lit and where hundreds of passengers are present at any time of day or night.

“I visited the bus stand and found sufficient security there,” Singh said.

K.K. Lunthi, the police inspector investigating the case, didn’t reveal much.

“She belongs to Moradabad and had come to Delhi. From there, she was brought to Dehradun via Moradabad. The panchayat of the girl’s village in Moradabad has identified her,” he said.

A Dehradun resident told The Telegraph over the phone that the bus stand “turns into an eerie place at night”, with most of the lights non-functioning.

“The buses are parked in a zigzag way (hampering visibility further), and any crime
can be committed easily,” he said.

Uttarakhand Congress senior vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana said: “Crimes against women are rising in the state. A girl was gang-raped at the (terminus) because all security measures failed there.”

He added: “Recently,
a woman was killed in
Udham Singh Nagar. A nurse was raped and killed in Rudrapur a few days ago. Criminals don’t fear the law in the state.”

Dhasmana recalled the murder of a woman receptionist in Rishikesh in September 2022. She used to work at the resort of a then BJP leader, Vinod Arya. His son Pulkit Arya and two resort employees are accused of killing her for refusing “to oblige” an unknown VIP guest.