Standing outside her 7x7 feet room in New Simapuri, the mother of a seven-year-old girl who was raped on Monday night, wished her daughter could forget the incident “like a nightmare”.
The woman (26), from Bihar, said she started driving an e-rickshaw about six months ago as she could hardly make ends meet by picking garbage.
“I have two daughters to take care of. I was a ragpicker. It was difficult to raise them with the money I used to earn. I started driving an e-rickshaw on rent of ₹300 a day. People stare at me as women rarely do such jobs, but I never cared,” she said.
Her husband, she said, is an alcoholic and had left them about a year ago and went back to their village along with their eldest daughter. “He used to abuse and beat me. We used to fight. He left and took our eldest daughter. He visits us sometimes, but mostly stays in the village”
The woman regretted not checking on her daughter on Monday night. Around 7 p.m., she along with a couple of others had gone to a nearby temple to get prasad and did not return till 11.30 p.m.
“I thought she had gone to my sister’s house where she usually goes and had slept there. But I did not check if she was there,” the mother recalled.
The girl was spotted in a vest and a towel by a neighbour. She allegedly said that her stomach was aching.
“I took her to my room, removed her towel, which was soaked in blood. She said someone had done something wrong with her,” the neighbour said.
Her mother and other neighbours gathered. On being asked what happened, the girl took them to a nearby place where the accused, Salman (20), was found.
He was brought to the street and beaten up before the police were called and he was handed over.
“He had given her ₹10 and a chocolate after raping her. This particular instance, I hope, she can get past. Did he consider her a prostitute? What if she grows up and it leaves an impact on her mind? She is a child!” the mother said before leaving for a city hospital where her daughter is undergoing treatment.
‘Strictest punishment’
Salman’s five-month pregnant wife stays with her mother in-law a few streets away. Refusing to be named, she said she wants the strictest punishment for her husband. “We got married about 18 months ago. He started abusing drugs soon after. He used to beat me. He has done this to a little girl. He does not deserve mercy,” she said.
His mother Anwara, a ragpicker, echoed similar thoughts. She said she was called when Salman was being beaten up by locals, but she told them “to do as they wished”.