December 16 gangrape case has shaken public confidence: Court

New Delhi: The December 16 gangrape and murder case has shaken the confidence of the citizens on public transport and a person will now think twice before entering an empty bus, a Delhi court observed on Wednesday.

The court made the observation while taking into account that not only was the young girl a victim in the empty bus, but before her, poor carpenter Ram Adhar was also robbed by the four culprits who were awarded 10 years jail term.

"Any person who waits at a bus stop for transportation does so with the assurance that the buses plying on the road have complied with all statutory requirements and the persons manning them have been permitted by the appropriate government to ply buses on the road after their antecedents have been verified.

"In other words, no person who intends to avail public transport will harbour any doubt in his mind about his safety and security or whether he will be transported to the desired destination upon payment of the requisite fee. It is with this assurance that any person boards a bus or any other mode of public transport...”

"Even if a bus on the road is plying with all permits and statutory compliances, but that bus by chance happens to be empty, a person will think twice before entering it, lest he may suffer the same fate as Ram Adhar. This incident shakes the confidence of the public that buses plying on the road are a safe and secure mode of transport," Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh said.

Ram Adhar, a carpenter, was robbed of his mobile phone and money by Akshay Kumar Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma after he boarded the bus in which these convicts were plying. They had thrashed him, tore his clothes and thrown him out of the running bus at the IIT flyover.

Later, they had raped and brutally assaulted a 23-year-old girl in the bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012.

"Such an act on the part of the convicts has taken away the confidence with which Ram Adhar boarded the said bus. In future, Ram Adhar will always have the memory of this incident at the back of his mind whenever he needs public transport.

"This incident may also compel Ram Adhar to shun public transport altogether and arrange for private transport for himself," the court said.