4-year-old kidnapped, raped by neighbour, thrown in drain

NEW DELHI: A four-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped, allegedly by her 28-year-old neighbour, in outer Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy on Sunday. Police said she suffered injuries in her private parts and fell unconscious.

Police said her alleged perpetrator, Mohammad Junaid, panicked when he saw her bleeding. He was caught by the child’s family and neighbours who saw him dumping her in an open drain.

Junaid, a rickshaw-puller, was thrashed by locals and handed over to the police. A case of kidnapping and rape was registered against him.

The girl has been admitted to a hospital where Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal met her on Monday. She later tweeted: “Met 4-year-old rape victim. Marks over her body tell her brutal ordeal. In deep pain n trauma. Totally inhuman. When will Delhi b rape free? (Sic)”.

HT had earlier reported how rapists and kidnappers lurk around in the Shahbad Dairy area as children have to go into the nearby forest to relieve themselves. There is no toilet in the village.

On Sunday, the girl was playing outside her home in a slum when Junaid lured her to his room with snacks and soft drinks. He then raped the girl and threatened to kill her if she screamed or raised an alarm.

“When the girl fell unconscious and started bleeding, Junaid took her and dumped her in the drain,” said a senior police officer.

The girl was found bleeding profusely with injury marks on her body. She was rushed to a nearby hospital. Her condition was stated to be out of danger. A local NGO is counselling the girl.

Her father is a labourer and her mother is a housewife, said the officer.

The child’s family members, her mother in particular, were traumatised after seeing their daughter’s condition. “My daughter is in deep trauma after the horrific crime. I can’t imagine how someone could do such a thing with a four-year-old child. We are so scared,” the girl’s mother told media persons.

After meeting the girl, Maliwal reiterated her demand to constitute a high-level committee to look into the issue of women safety in the Capital.

“Women safety in Delhi has become an epidemic, with almost 208 rapes in May alone, of which almost half are children. It is saddening to note that women safety is being politicised. This needs to stop,” Maliwal said.

The commission said it had previously demanded the constitution of a committee in order to enable the Centre and state government to work in co-ordination with each other for improving safety of women in Delhi.