Woman Raped Inside Bus Parked At Busy Bus Depot In Pune, Violent Protests As Accused On Run
The Swargate bus stand in Pune, where the incident unfolded, is one of the largest bus junctions of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation and is located around 100 metres from a police station.
A 26-year-old woman was raped inside a state transport bus at the busy Swargate bus stand in Pune on Tuesday morning.
The incident happened when the woman was waiting for a bus at the Pune bus stop for Phaltan in Satara district at around 5.45 am when a man approached her and suggested that the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.
The Swargate bus stand in Pune, where the incident unfolded, is one of the largest bus junctions of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation and is located around 100 metres from a police station.
The suspect has been identified as 36-year-old Dattatraya Ramdas Gade, who has multiple cases of theft and chain snatching registered against him, a Swargate police station official said, according to news agency PTI.
The police have identified the accused Gade from CCTV footage and multiple teams have been formed to track him down.
#WATCH | Pune, Maharashtra: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vasant More along with other party leaders, holds a protest at the Swargate bus stand over the alleged rape of a 26-year-old woman. pic.twitter.com/du9aQCMJyL
— ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2025
The incident had drawn sharp reactions from Opposition leaders who blamed the Home Department held by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for failing to deal with the rising crime in the Pune region.
According to the woman, she was waiting for a bus for Phaltan in Satara, when a man approached her and engaged her in conversation, calling her 'Didi'. He then said that the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.
The man then took her to an empty 'Shiv Shahi' AC bus parked elsewhere on the station premises.
Though the woman hesitated to get on the bus at first, the man convinced her that it was the right bus. He said that the woman could board the bus and look for herself using a torch.
He then followed her inside and raped her before fleeing, the woman told the police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Smartana Patil said that the CCTV footage showed the woman walking towards the bus with the accused. There were many people and several buses on the station premises when the incident took place, she said.
The woman had not reported the incident to the police immediately after the incident. However, when she took a bus for Phaltan, she narrated the incident to her friend on phone while travelling, the DCP said.
On her friend's advice, she got down within the city limits, and went to the police station, Patil said.
The woman's condition is stable and she had given a clear statement to the police, the official said, adding that a case of rape under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered.
Opposition Attacks Maharashtra Govt Over Pune Rape
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena workers protested at the Swargate bus stand over the rape and broke the glass of windows at the bus stop.
NCP (SP) leader and Baramati MP Supriya Sule lashed out at the BJP-led Maharashtra government over the incident.
"There is a police post nearby and the area is routinely patrolled," Sule said. "Still such an assault takes place at Swargate, which shows that anti-social elements do not have any fear of law. The home department has failed to curb crime in Pune. The trial of this case should be held in a fast-track court and the accused must get a severe punishment," Sule told reporters.
Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal claimed that incidents of rape were on rise in the state.
"MSRTC buses are Maharashtra's lifeline, and now a rape has taken place inside an MSRTC bus, he said. When the Nirbhaya gangrape incident took place in Delhi, people changed the regime. You (BJP-led government) promote Laadki Bahin scheme for women (providing financial aid), but ignore basic issues of the people," he said.
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