Lavanya Anand, 28, a migrant worker from Jharkhand who works at an office in Maharashtra's Pune, is a frequent commuter from the busy Swargate bus depot. She sometimes even takes the same route as the 26-year-old woman who was allegedly raped inside a parked state-run bus last week.

“I lived in New Delhi before this and always thought Maharashtra was safer for women in that way. But look at this — this is almost like the Nirbhaya case,” Anand tells The Quint.

The incident occurred at the crack of dawn on 25 February at the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC)'s Swargate bus terminus, just a few metres away from the local police station. After a prolific “manhunt” that lasted over 60 hours, the accused, 37-year-old Dattatreya Ramdas Gade, was arrested from a field in Shirur district where he lives.

Relieved as she was after the arrest, Anand says that the incident (and its aftermath) has left her triggered. “I don’t know any girl or woman my age or older who hasn’t faced such things like groping, harassment or at least verbal abuse in public spaces, including myself," she tells The Quint.

Lavanya Anand"In most cases, there is no space to 'scream' as the minister said, or to even react. Violence can leave one debilitated.”

Anand was referring to a sitting Maharashtra minister's controversial statement on the incident.

Yogesh Kadam, Minister of State for Home and Shiv Sena MLA“The survivor did not resist the accused. There were 10 to 15 people near the bus, but they did not notice the crime. If there had been resistance, if she had screamed, people around would have rushed to her aid…but everything seems to have happened peacefully.”

Gade’s lawyer Sajid Shah, too, had argued in court that the intercourse was "consensual", as the woman willingly boarded the bus with no signs of struggle. “She could have screamed. She could have chosen to not enter the bus. He did not force her. It was clearly an act of consent,” Shah told reporters.

What Happened in Swargate?

The rape survivor, who was working as a pre-operative counsellor at a hospital in Pune, is from Phaltan (about 100 km from Pune) in Satara district and lives in a rented space in the city's Aundh neighbourhood. On 25 February, she was waiting for a bus to return to her hometown Phaltan when she was approached by the accused. According to the police, the accused called the woman “sister” and pretended to be an employee at the bus depot.

“He told her that the bus she was waiting for would come at another place and led her to a parked MSRTC AC (Shivshahi) bus,” police sources claim.

The woman entered the bus and reportedly hesitated at the lights being off, but the accused told her “people were inside, only asleep”.

Once both were inside, he locked the door and went on to allegedly rape the woman twice. After the crime, the accused walked out of the bus, leaving the woman behind. CCTV footage captured their entry and exit.

Activists protest against victim-shaming narratives in Pune in wake of Swargate rape case.

As per her statements to police, the woman initially boarded another bus and was on her way home as she was too shocked to react. On the way, she contacted a friend and told them about what happened who then convinced her to lodge a complaint with the police.

Gade has been remanded to a 12-day remand custody and investigations are underway. Pune police confirmed with The Quint that the accused, Gade, has been booked under Sections 64 and 351 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) pertaining to rape and physical intimidation.

The accused is a history sheeter, previously booked six times for cases under sections 392 (robbery), and 395 (dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “He did chain snatching and five of the victims in the six offences were women,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) Smartana Patil confirmed.

Responding to the purported blaming of the survivor, Patil says that the police were investigating the case as per the complainant’s claims. “It does not matter whether she screamed or not. Rape is rape,” she states.

Patil added that in cases of sexual violence, investigations should put the victim’s narrative first. “The burden of truth needs to be on the accused, not the victim,” the DCP tells The Quint.

Abandoned Buses, Decrepit Parking Zones

Photos and videos that emerged on social media since the crime showed abandoned buses – languishing for years in decrepit parking zones at Swargate depot – turned into veritable dumping grounds — littered with empty alcohol bottles, condoms, and so on, suggesting their illicit use for unwanted activities.

Former IPS officer Meeran Borwankar“Poor lighting at the depot and absence of uniformed police persons and security persons at the bus stop appear to be important factors contributing to lack of safety of passengers.”

Locals, as well as MSRTC employees, claim that the issue is an old one that impacts not just women bus passengers but also women transport employees.

Earlier this year on 5 February, members of the MSRTC Employees’ Union had written a letter to the authorities, highlighting several issues including poor security and negligence at the depot which caused a nuisance for employees living in the staff colonies nearby.

Vishal Ravale of the Maharashtra State Transport Kamgar Sanghatana tells The Quint that the union had approached the police as well regarding the issue of negligence and the presence of unwanted elements in the depot previously, but no action had been taken.

Responding to allegations of police inefficacy, DCP Patil told The Quint that patrolling was not the problem and blamed the crime on the “patriarchal mentality” of people.

DCP Smartana Patil“On the night in question, the Swargate PI (Yuvraj Nandre) had gone out to patrol the area twice, once at midnight and once again at around 3 am… It isn’t possible for police to patrol every corner of the city 24/7. Thorough investigations are in place as of now.” Rape, Violence and Politics

The case has left the ruling Mahayuti government in a tricky spot.

Hours after the incident, “protesters” led by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vasant More vandalised the security office inside the MRSTC bus station of Swargate. Kadam’s remarks left the leaders red-faced and open to the Opposition’s attacks over the “insensitivity” of the comment with Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) leaders demanding his resignation.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis quickly sought to damage control by rebuking Kadam, calling him a “new minister” and advising him to “speak with greater awareness and sensitivity” on such “sensitive cases”.

Women campaigning inside buses in Pune to raise awareness against sexual violence in wake of Swargate rape case.

Outrage over the Pune rape is coming at a time when the Mahayuti government is already facing heat for other crimes like the murder of a sarpanch in Beed and the custodial death of an aspiring lawyer in Parbhani.

“The Fadnavis government is failing to check crimes in the state while the repeated rape cases, including the Pune rape, have antagonised women voters, reportedly the driving force behind the BJP’s comeback in the Assembly polls last year,” says political commentator Venkatesh Kesari from Marathwada.

Since the polls, two major rape cases – the Bopdev Ghat gang rape of a 21-year-old by three men posing as activists in October last year, and before that the Badlapur case in August when two four-year-old infants were allegedly sexually abused at a co-ed school by a staff – have caused outrage and questions about the government's handling of sexual violence cases.

Moreover, alleged links have emerged between the accused and politicians of the ruling party, with photographs showing him in the presence of Shirur constituency leaders like Mauli Patke from the Mahayuti partner NCP’s Ajit Pawar faction. An image of the accused also appeared on a birthday wish poster for NCP Sharad Pawar faction MLA Ashok Pawar (both leaders have denied knowing Gade). Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar made several accusations against Patke alleging that the accused was involved in sending people to Ujjain (as part of Patke’s 'Ujjain Yatra') and that the ruling parties were trying to shield Gade.

Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India’s comrade T Lalita stressed that whether Gade was politically linked or not, the political climate of the state and nation has a direct and definite correlation to crimes against women.

“Look at the narrative against women by the ruling party. It rewards rapists, gives them election tickets, and condones their valourisation. These set dangerous precedents for perpetrators of crimes against women". Lalita also stressed that while parties were poiticising the event, no one was addressing the key issue.

Comrade T Lalita“On one hand, you have ruling party leaders victim-blaming. On the other, you have opposition leaders vandalising public property. There is talk of the death penalty which we know is usually counterproductive. But one is talking about the vulnerability of migrant, working-class women, in metro cities." 'Good Girls Get Home by 7'

Most working-class women in Pune use public transport to go to work or other places as Pune, says Anand who travels to Pune from Pimpri Chinchwad every day. “The incident just shows the lack of safety for common passenger like me,” she tells The Quint.

In the wake of the incident, activists including students have been protesting and campaigning against the culture of victim-blaming.

“Some people are raising questions on why she was out at 5 am on a bus stand. Others are asking about why she followed him to the bus,” Stree Mukti League convener Swapanaja Limkar tells The Quint over the phone.

“This kind of attitude is frankly exhausting but not surprising, given the constant objectification of women in popular and political parlance,” Limkar sighed.

Post the incident, Limkar and her team have been campaigning on buses in Pune to raise awareness about public safety.

Swapanaja Limkar, Stree Mukti League“We are talking about gender-based violence not as a knee-jerk reaction to this crime or that crime, but as an ongoing fight against systemic capitalist patriarchy. We are telling women to demand their right to safety."

There is a common saying in Marathi: "Saat chya aat gharaat“. Roughly translated, it means, "Good girls are back home by 7 pm”. The activists assert that as long as such mindsets exist, victims will continue to get the blame.