A nine-year-old girl was raped on her way to a public portable toilet in a JJ cluster in Vasant Kunj on Wednesday night.
The police have registered a case and detained a few persons in connection with the case.
The victim, a Class IV student of a government school, was allegedly raped in the bushes near the toilet near the camp, where the accused forcibly took her, and fled after committing the crime.
The girl, barely able to walk, reached a shop near her house after which locals took her home.
The girl’s father, who runs a shop in the cluster area, said that his daughter was with him at the shop around 9 p.m.
“She told me that she was going to use the toilet but did not return for a while. I thought she has gone home directly as it is at a walking distance. But about half an later, someone came and called me home,” he said.
A 22-year-old woman who spotted the girl first after she was raped recalled that the minor was howling, barely able to walk, her clothes were dirty, torn and stained with blood.
“I was sitting at the shop when the girl came crying. She was falling after every few steps. We asked her what had happened. She just asked me to take her to her mother. We understood what had happened,” the woman said.
The neighbours then helped the girl reach home, made a PCR call and called the father.
Undergoing treatment
The girl was then rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre where she is undergoing treatment. “She had undergone operation for three hours on Wednesday night. She is not doing well,” the father said.
Locals said that the caretaker of the toilet left at 8 p.m. after his 15-hour shift got over.
“At night, there is no one taking care of the toilets. It is left unattended,” said Sonu, a local.
The girl’s parents are from Uttar Pradesh and her mother is a domestic help working in neighbouring areas. The couple has three children including the victim, another daughter and son. They have been living in the area for the last 10 years.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West) Devender Arya said that a case on charges of rape and under Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act has been registered at Vasant Kunj South Police Station and a few men have been detained on Thursday in connection with the case.
Another case reported
Sources said that people in a nearby camp called the police on Thursday afternoon stating that the man who had raped the victim on Wednesday night has been caught. When the police conducted an enquiry, locals alleged that the person was caught taking a four-year-old girl with the same intention.
He had forcibly taken the girl on Wednesday afternoon as well. Locals thrashed him before handing him to the police.
“He is being interrogated and investigation is under way. It has not yet been ascertained whether he is the accused in the rape case of the nine-year-old girl as well,” a source said.