M A I N   N E W S

Delhi again, five-year-old raped brutally; protests erupt
Shaurya Karanbir Gurung and Ananya Panda/TNS

New Delhi, April 19
A five-year-old girl who was abducted and brutally raped, allegedly by her neighbour in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar locality, is battling grave injuries, after doctors operated on her to remove a plastic bottle and a candle from her genitals. The gruesome incident once again reminded people of the brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus last December.

Protests by people outside the Swami Dayanand Hospital in east Delhi, where the victim was admitted for initial treatment, turned violent with a police officer seen slapping a girl for which the Commissioner of Police suspended him and ordered an inquiry.

The victim was later shifted to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where Medical Superintendent Dr DK Sharma said a team of doctors from the gynaecology and paediatrics departments evaluated the condition of the girl and later shifted her to the paediatrics surgery ward.

“The future course of treatment will be decided after another detailed examination of the girl. She is stable and has been shifted to the general ward,” he said.

Earlier, Medical Superintendent of the Dyanand Hospital RK Bansal said, “She is serious, though stable. She is better now and was speaking also. We conducted an operation to remove a candle and a 200ml bottle of hair oil from inside her. There were injuries on her face, lips and cheeks. It seemed there had also been attempts to strangulate her.”

Investigators said the victim was abducted allegedly by her neighbour on Monday and was confined to a flat on the ground floor of the building in which she stayed with her parents on the first floor.

On Wednesday, girl’s parents approached the police after they heard screams of a girl from the room of their neighbour.

The accused, who has been identified as Manoj, is at large. The incident caused a massive uproar outside the Swami Dayanand Hospital. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers and leaders, including Gopal Rai and Manish Sisodiya, staged demonstrations outside the hospital, demanding the victim be shifted to a better-equipped hospital like AIIMS.

The number and ferocity of protesters grew with the passing of the day. They gheraoed AK Walia, state Minister for Health and Family Welfare, who arrived at the hospital around 3 pm. MP Sandeep Dikshit, who arrived with the minister, also faced protestors’ wrath.

The two politicians managed to break through a tough barrier of protesters, who raised slogans against Sandeep’s mother, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. In the melee, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bani Singh Ahlawat slapped a young female protester thrice.

Briefing the media, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East District) Prabhakar said the victim’s mother reached the Gandhi Nagar police station on April 15 at 8.30 pm. She complained that her daughter had been missing since 6 pm the same day. A case of kidnapping under was registered under Section 363 of the IPC at 10 pm.

A search was launched for the girl. On April 17, the victim’s mother informed the police that she heard cries of a girl, coming from the ground floor of a building in Gandhi Nagar. The victim stayed with her parents on the first floor of the same building. The police barged into the ground floor residence, which was rented by accused Manoj. They found the girl and took her to the Swami Dayanand Hospital. Her medical examination confirmed she was sexually assaulted.

“We have thereafter added Sections of 342 (wrongful confinement), 366 A, 376-A (rape) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC in the FIR. Sections 9 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act have also been added,” he said.

“We have identified the accused. Two teams have been sent to search for him,” he added.

Sources said the teams had been sent to Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

“As the landlord of the building didn’t reportedly conduct tenant verification of the accused. Therefore, we have registered a case against him also,” he said.

There is also a report appearing in the media that the local police allegedly tried to pay some money to the father of the victim to hush up the case. Joint Commissioner of Police (Vigilance) has been asked to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours.

Pending the inquiry, Inspector Dharam Pal Singh, SHO of the Gandhi Nagar police station, and Sub-Inspector Mahavir Singh, the first investigation officer in the case, have been placed under suspension.

When reporters asked DCP Prabhakar as to why the victim was not taken to a better hospital than Dayanand, he said, “We always take victim to the nearest government hospital. Later, the state government decided to keep her at AIIMS.”

When asked why the police did not go to neigbour’s residence at the ground floor after a case of kidnapping was registered on April 15, he said until the victim was found, her family didn’t suspect the neighbour