Delhi minor’s rape: Family looks for closure, one suspect evades police

A 10-year-old boy in Delhi was brutally assaulted, raped, and died after battling for life for 10 days. One suspect remains at large.

A 10-year-old boy was brutally assaulted, raped, and suffered serious injuries to his private parts and died after battling for life for 10 days at a Delhi hospital. A year on, his family, which lives in north-east Delhi’s Seelampur area, is still grappling for answers and staring at uncertainty as the police are yet to track down one of the three suspects who were named by the victim in a video.

The family and the doctors said that he was raped, metallic objects like a rod were inserted into his private parts and he was beaten up badly with bricks. (Representational image/ Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Before developing sepsis and succumbing to a cardiac arrest, the victim shared his ordeal in a video recorded by his family. The Delhi Police apprehended two boys, aged 12 and 13, one of them a cousin of the victim. A third, also named by the victim in the video, remains at large.

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The family is still waiting for closure and continue to visit the police station every few days. “Whenever I visit the police station, the officers say that they are still looking for the third boy. They keep dodging my questions,” said the 40-year-old mother of the victim.

“He would have been 11 this year,” the mother said sitting in her single-room accommodation with her 11-year-old daughter -- the twin sister of the deceased.

On September 18 last year, the boy was called out of his house by the accused on the pretext of playing cricket. The family and the doctors said that he was raped, metallic objects like a rod were inserted into his private parts and he was beaten up badly with bricks. There were injuries on his chest and head and there were signs that he was kicked several times in his private parts, they said.

According to the victim’s family, the boy was scared to tell them that he was suffering from excruciating pain in his private parts. He only opened up when they pressed him. He told them that he was thrashed in an open playground close to the residence, which also houses a public toilet.

The parents first took him to Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital but were asked to go to a “bigger” facility. On September 22, they took him to Lok Nayak Hospital where officials informed the police about the incident.

Police claimed that family did not inform them on their own but family denied this charge. After fighting for his life for 10 days, the boy passed away on October 1 of multiple organ failure.

A doctor said, “His wounds reminded us of the December 16 gang rape victim. His private parts were severely injured.” The doctor added that “he died of multi-organ failure after developing sepsis”.

Police on Saturday said that even after a year, the identity of the third boy has not been established.

Deputy commissioner of police (north-east) Joy Tirkey said over the last one year, efforts have been made to find the suspect, but in vain. “We visited the school where the victim studied. We questioned all the boys from his school as well as from his locality, but still couldn’t trace the third suspect,” he said.

The two boys who were apprehended have been removed from the area and now live outside Seelampur. Charges have been framed against them and the case is under trial. “Supplementary investigation against the third suspect is still on,” DCP said.

“After my son’s death, my husband fell sick and now he stays at home. I run the house alone and take care of my daughter and a 15-year-old son,” the victim’s mother said.

After losing her son, the mother gave away all his books and toys. “Whenever I saw them, it reminded me of him. It was unbearable.”