E-Paper
Class 7 girl’s ‘gangrape’: Prima facie no procedural delay in reporting case: NCPCR panel
Member of the NCPCR panel Preeti Bhardwaj Dalal said till now there had been no procedural delays on the part of the authority in reporting the incident. A Class 7 girl studying in a city school had alleged that she had been gangraped by five minors living in her locality, four of whom studied in the same school as her.
The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), New Delhi, which is investigating the ‘gangrape’ case of a Class 7 student, said Prima facie there has been no procedural delay in reporting the case.
A Class 7 girl studying in a city school had alleged that she had been gangraped by five minors living in her locality, four of whom studied in the same school as her.
Member of the commission Preeti Bhardwaj Dalal said till now there had been no procedural delays on the part of the authority in reporting the incident. She also confirmed that support persons had been provided to the girl after the incident and she had interacted with them as well.
Dalal said that their team had come to the city two days ago and since then they have been conducting an investigation into the incident. They have spoken to officials of the Juvenile Justice Board, Child Welfare Committee, the school officials and the police officials concerned as well and interacted with the victim and her family on Thursday. Dalal will now prepare a confidential report of the incident and submit it to the chairperson of the commission to take further action on it.
Although she didn’t divulge too many details, she said that the matter is being called a “localised grooming” incident where the accused are known to the minor and groom her to commit such acts.
The incident had come to light when the girl had informed her schoolteacher on May 18. Childline was contacted and the police were also informed. A case was registered at the Sector 34 police station for gangrape and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The five minor boys were apprehended by the police. While one of the accused, aged 13, is the victim’s classmate, the four others, all aged 14-15, are students of Class 9 of her school.
One of the accused had blackmailed the 13-year-old girl to stay silent about the crime as she was accused of a theft. After committing the crime, one of the students told his friends, who in turn raped the victim at different locations in Chandigarh, including a park. All five were apprehended and sent to a juvenile home.
