DCW notice to police over Dalit girl’s rape, cops say she turned hostile twice
The Delhi Commission for Women on Saturday issued a notice to the police for allegedly not taking action in connection with the rape of a 14-year-old Dalit girl
The Delhi Commission for Women on Saturday issued a notice to the police for allegedly not taking action in connection with the rape of a 14-year-old Dalit girl.
DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal quoted the victim’s parents as saying the girl was sexually assaulted several times by her neighbour and forced to drink a ‘corrosive substance, which severely damaged her internal organs.’
The police claimed they arrested the accused thrice but the girl turned hostile twice.
The panel sought details about the police action on the girl’s parents’ allegations on May 15 that their lives were under threat. Maliwal asked why a case under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was not filed.
The commission had shifted the girl from the Lok Nayak (LNJP) Hospital to a private hospital under the EWS Scheme.
The girl’s uncle alleged that accused, Shiv Shankar, threatened them. “Shankar’s family lives near our house and threatened her. Both the parents work and are out for the entire day. After being abducted on May 15, our child was tortured and made to drink acid. Later, they threatened her to change her statement,” he alleged.
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“She was kept hostage by them for around 10-12 days after which she was brought to the police station where her condition was bad. Shiv Shankar’s family threatened to kill her brother too,” he said.
He said the girl’s family traced her and took her to LNJP Hospital. The DCW has sought police protection for the family.
“This is a serious case of an alleged rape of a Dalit girl. The girl has changed her statements previously due to pressure from the accused and that he is trying to kidnap the younger brother of the victim,” Maliwal said.
POLICE HAVE A DIFFERENT STORY
Explaining the sequence of events, a police officer said the girl first went missing on December 21, 2015. They rescued her from Shankar on December 24. He was arrested in January and her statement was recorded before a magistrate on January 5. But the girl turned hostile and Shankar was granted bail.
On May 15, the girl’s parents approached the police with a missing complaint. Deputy commissioner of police (north) Madhur Verma said they registered a kidnapping case again. “We rescued her on May 26 again from Shankar. She is a minor, so he was arrested. On May 27, we took her to a magistrate. She again told the magistrate that Shankar had not taken her and requested for the case to be closed. He was acquitted,” said Verma.
Police said the girl was produced before the Child Welfare Committee, which sent her to a shelter home because her family refused to take her back.
In June first week, her parents approached the CWC. On June 3, the girl was handed back to her parents, police said.
“We came to know on June 30 that she was admitted to the LNJP Hospital. Our Inspector went to take her statement. At the time, she did not say anything. On July 8, she gave a written complaint that Shiv Shankar had raped her a month ago. Now we have arrested Shiv Shankar,” said DCP Verma.
Verma said when the police learnt about the girl, they visited the hospital with a magistrate. But doctors said she was not in a condition to give a statement. “Once she is fit for statement we will probe other allegations of torture too,” said Verma.