BODH GAYA: A 20-year-old woman who fainted during a fitness test at a Bihar Military Police ground in Bodh Gaya was gang-raped inside an ambulance on July 24, allegedly by the driver and a health department technician, triggering questions over why no female attendant was present in the emergency vehicle.Police said the woman, a Home Guard aspirant, was among nearly 700 candidates taking part in physical evaluations when she collapsed from heat exhaustion and was sent to Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital — barely 3.5km away — in an ambulance.However, instead of reaching the hospital in the usual 10 minutes, the ambulance took an “unusually long time” and CCTV footage later revealed the vehicle had deviated from the direct route.At the hospital, the woman — semi-conscious — told emergency staff that she had been raped en route. “We immediately informed the police. A medical test was conducted and a legal case initiated,” a hospital official said.Both the ambulance driver and technician were arrested late Friday. Police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. Forensic teams collected biological samples from the ambulance on Saturday.“We’re taking every step to make the case foolproof while also ensuring the survivor’s care,” said hospital superintendent Dr K K Sinha.A senior officer said the FIR was lodged based on the woman’s statement. “We’re examining why no female attendant accompanied her in the ambulance. That is a serious procedural lapse,” the officer added.Online outrage, old case recalledThe incident has triggered widespread outrage online, with users questioning the safety of women even in state-run emergency services. “There are rape cases involving girls as young as 4 and women above 65. Will India ever be safe for women?” posted user Henrietta Decruz on X, tagging the Supreme Court.The case has also revived memories of the Lady Elgin Hospital rape case in Gaya, where a former MP was accused decades ago — a case that had shaken the state’s conscience.The latest crime adds to a string of killings and law and order concerns in Bihar this month, just ahead of the assembly polls. On July 17, gunmen shot a murder convict dead inside a Patna hospital. Earlier, businessman Gopal Khemka, lawyer Jitendra Kumar, BJP leader Surendra Kewat and trader Waseem Anwar Khan were killed in separate incidents.Opposition parties have called the rising crime graph a “complete breakdown of law and order” in Bihar.
