7-year-old molested in East Delhi mall

The police said they did not reach out to the mall management or security system as the investigators directly dealt with the toy shop and the salesman

A seven-year-old, who was visiting a mall in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar with her grandmother, was sexually assaulted by the salesman of a toy shop, police officers aware of the case said on Tuesday, adding that the suspect has been arrested.

The girl has been medically examined and was counselled by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). (Representative image)

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According to officers, the incident happened on Sunday evening at the V3S Mall, when the grandmother needed to use the restroom and asked the girl to wait outside. The girl then wandered into the toy shop, where the salesman assaulted her, police said.

Amrutha Guguloth, deputy commissioner of police (east), identified the suspect as Dheeraj Kumar, 30, and said that he has been arrested. “Kumar has been booked for molestation and under section 10 (aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act,” Guguloth said.

The girl has been medically examined and was counselled by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), Guguloth said.

The police said they did not reach out to the mall management or security system as the investigators directly dealt with the toy shop and the salesman. “The incident had nothing to do with the mall, it was a crime of an individual in a shop,” said a senior police officer.

Giving details about the case, officers said the girl lives with her parents and grandparents in an east Delhi neighbourhood. Her parents work as labourers and the girl is usually cared for by her grandmother in their absence. On Sunday afternoon, while the girl’s parents were at work, her grandmother decided to take her to the mall.

While at the mall, the grandmother wished to use the restroom and asked the girl to wait outside. “While the grandmother was in the restroom, the child walked into a toy shop located nearby,” Guguloth said, adding that Kumar then assaulted the girl.

The area of the shop where the girl was assaulted was not covered by CCTV cameras, the DCP said.

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Another police officer, declining to be named, said the girl told her grandmother about the assault while walking home. “The child understood that she had been violated, and mentioned it to her grandmother,” the officer said.

The family subsequently made a call to the police control room, and a case was registered at the Preet Vihar police station by the early hours of Monday. The girl was able to provide enough of a description of her assaulter to lead to Kumar’s arrest, said officers, adding that police are investigating whether he had targeted other children that visited the shop.