As the city reels from the shock of a 26-year-old woman's rape in a Shivshahi AC bus at Swargate bus stand, just 100 meters away from the Swargate Police Station, we have found similarities between the Nirbhaya Delhi 2012 rape case, the Pune Shivshahi rape case, and even the rape and murder of a doctor in a government hospital in Kolkata last year.

If we look at these three cases, the assault took place at what one considers crowded and safe places for women, like hospitals and buses.

Delhi Rape Case

The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern boarded an off-duty bus at around 8:30 PM local time on December 16, 2012, with a male friend. They were returning home after watching a film at an upscale mall.

The six men, who were already on board, attacked the couple, taking turns to rape the woman before brutally assaulting her with an iron rod. Her friend was beaten. In the Delhi case, the victim died from her injuries days after being raped by six men on a moving bus. Even the Kolkata victim was found dead.

Pune Case

In this case, a woman who works as a preoperative counselor with a city hospital went to Swargate bus station. As she was waiting for a bus to Phaltan in Satara district at around 5:45 AM on Tuesday, a man approached and engaged her in conversation, calling her "didi" (sister), and said the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.

He took her to an empty Shiv Shahi AC bus parked elsewhere on the sprawling station premises. As the lights inside the bus were not on, she hesitated to get in at first, but the man convinced her that it was the right vehicle. He then followed her inside and raped her before fleeing, the woman, who works in the medical field, told police.

The shocking incident in the heart of the city caused an uproar, with opposition lambasting the BJP-led Maharashtra government over women's safety.