Minor tribal girl raped in bus

In a reminder of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape, a minor Adivasi girl was allegedly raped by the driver of a bus and his assistant inside the vehicle on Sunday.

While the minor was rescued a day later and sent for medical treatment, the accused was absconding.

Police said the girl, who hails from the remote Doimari village in Sonitpur district of Assam, had taken a bus from Tezpur, the district headquarters, to Goreswar in Baksa district, where she stayed with some relatives, at 2 pm.

While alleging that the driver of the bus and his assistant raped her, the victim said in her complaint that the driver drove past the Goreswar bus stop and went till Atrighat. Police suspect the crime was committed between Goreswar and Atrighat. Goreswar is 140 kilometres from Tezpur.

The girl managed to escape from the bus early on Monday and reached a nearby tribal village where she was rescued and taken to the local police station. Police later seized the bus but the accused were absconding.

The All Adivasi Student Association of Assam, meanwhile, began a protest in Goreswar and threatened a statewide protest if the culprits are not arrested immediately.

In December 2012, a young medical student was gang-raped by six people, including a juvenile, inside a moving bus in the national capital late in the night, leading to a big impact. The woman later died in a hospital in Singapore.