GHAZIABAD: An 18-year-old Delhi University student was allegedly molested and robbed inside a moving auto-rickshaw that she had boarded to reach her Indirapuram home from Electronic City metro station on Tuesday night. The incident came days after a 30-year-old dentist was gagged and robbed inside a moving autorickshaw by four men who drove her around Ghaziabad and Noida for over an hour.The girl, a BCom first-year student, was returning from her college and had boarded the auto from near CISF cut around 10.10pm on Tuesday after getting down at the metro station. She alleged that four persons who were inside the auto molested and robbed her of Rs 200 and then dumped her on Vishwakarma Road in a semi-conscious state. She was slapped repeatedly, and suffered severe swelling on the face, head and other parts of her body.Based on her complaint, an FIR against unidentified persons was registered under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery ) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC at Vijay Nagar police station on Wednesday.The girl, who is a member of her college’s dance society, said that when she boarded the auto, a man in his late twenties was sitting inside. “He insisted that I sit inside the three-wheeler. As my house was not very far and the area was crowded, I did not think much about it and sat inside. Soon after, two others boarded the three-wheeler,” the student said.Instead of driving towards Mohan Nagar, the auto driver kept moving on NH-9 towards Vijay Nagar.When the girl confronted the driver on the route he was taking, three others who were inside the auto allegedly started assaulting her. “They slapped me multiple times and tied my hands and legs. They searched my bag and tried to find out whether I was wearing any jewellery. After finding nothing except Rs 200, they looked disappointed and started hurling abuses,” she said.At knifepoint, the gang asked the student not to reveal anything to her family and fled after dumping her on Vishwakarma Road.SSP Upendra Kumar Agrawal said specific teams had been formed to investigate the matter.There are no cops to monitor their movement, nor are there enough lights along the stretch. But commuters on National Highway 9 rely on these unruly autorickshaws to get to work every day.A TOI team that visited the spot from where the 18-year-old DU student had boarded the auto found several such three-wheelers that did not have number plates. There were hardly any policemen to regulate their movement, and drivers violated traffic rules with impunity to grab more and more passengers.At any given time, more than 50-60 autos could be seen parked near Noida Sector 62 station on NH-9.The situation is not much different on the Ghaziabad side as well as near the CISF cut. Residents spoke about the need for a foot overbridge to take passengers getting down at the Electronic City metro station to take them to Indirapuram, which is across the road. In the absence of any bridge or walkway, commuters rely on autos or on foot to get to Indirapuram.

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