The Ghaziabad Police has campaigned against illegal auto-rickshaws and seized around 320 illegal autos in the last two days following the Hapur Rape case. The move comes after a 30-year-old woman was kidnapped in an auto and gang-raped on 24 February.
The woman from Greater Noida rode in an auto from Lal Kuan intersection on National Highway-9 in Ghaziabad. But she was abducted in a moving auto and later gang-raped at a place near Galand in Hapur district. The three men in the auto have been identified as the driver and the passengers. The Hapur police registered an FIR and arrested all three suspects two days later.
Investigators said the three accused confessed their crime during interrogation. They abducted and gang-raped another woman 1.5 months ago, but no one filed a complaint for that case.
Police said the campaign will continue till all the autos operating without unique IDs and also those plying illegally from nearby districts are checked upon. This campaign drive started from 1st of March.
“We launched the drive to figure out all illegal autos here. We found over 200 autos operating under the jurisdiction of Masuri, Loni and Loni Border police station areas. We have seized the autos. The registration numbers are of Hapur, Meerut and Delhi. Apart from this, we have issued challans against 400 such autos registered in Ghaziabad,”
-said the superintendent of police (rural) Iraj Raja.
The Ghaziabad Police provides a unique four-digit ID for autos operating and registered in Ghaziabad. According to official estimates, there are about 16,000 Autos Ferry passengers in the district, mostly on a shared basis. During the incident, the auto went from Lal Kuan to NH-9 and reached Pilkhuwa via the jurisdiction of Masuri police station area.
A similar drive was also launched under the jurisdiction of the area, which also includes the Red Kuan intersection. In the past two days about 120 autos have been seized from other districts, and the officials are also working upon identifying and taking strict actions on auto rickshaws without unique IDs.
The operation will continue, and our personnel are conducting a thorough investigation at key points in Vijay Nagar, Lal Kuan and other areas, ”
-said Superintendent of Police (City 1) Nipun Agarwal.
Officials of Ghaziabad Autorickshaw Union have expressed concern about the auto being illegally run and said that they had complained about it several times earlier, but no action was taken.
“Most of the autos plying in Ghaziabad are from Hapur. Many more autos, too, ply… The incident was very unfortunate. We demand all autos plying illegally be seized,” said Dilshad Ahmad, president of the association.
