Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke criticised the Delhi Police on Monday for its handling of the alleged gang‑rape of a 16‑year‑old girl on a moving bus. In a video posted on X, he questioned why the force could deploy thousands of personnel to quell student protests at Jantar Mantar yet failed to prevent or promptly intervene in a violent crime against a minor. Dipke suggested that the girl could have been saved if police priorities shifted toward women’s safety.
The victim boarded a bus at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida on August 4, expecting to be dropped at Noida’s Sector 63. According to police reports, the driver and conductor allegedly assaulted her while the vehicle was in motion and later abandoned her near Kashmere Gate, north Delhi, after traveling approximately 43 kilometres. Within hours of the incident, Delhi Police arrested the 39‑year‑old driver, Kuldeep, and the 26‑year‑old conductor, Sandeep, both residents of Kanpur, after registering an FIR at the Kashmere Gate police station.
Dipke contrasted the police’s aggressive use of batons, tear gas and pellet guns against student demonstrators with what he described as a passive response to crimes against women. He argued that the same force that “breaks heads” of protesting girls appears inactive when confronting rapists, labeling this disparity a failure of both the police and the home minister. He urged the government to take women’s safety seriously so that girls can move around the capital without fear.
A senior police officer involved in the investigation confirmed that authorities are mapping the entire route from Pari Chowk to Kashmere Gate. The effort aims to identify existing police checkpoints, barricades, CCTV cameras and other surveillance measures along the 43‑kilometre stretch to improve future response capabilities.
