Rape survivor comes to terms, awaits another surgery

Her room is filled with toys given to her by visitors at the hospital where she was admitted while undergoing treatment but she has been advised not to play much. Neelam Pandey reports.

Her room is filled with toys given to her by visitors at the hospital where she was admitted while undergoing treatment but she has been advised not to play much.

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Staying at a shelter home in New Delhi's YWCA, the five-year-old Gandhi Nagar rape survivor wants to play most of the time and shivers at the thought of returning to her old house from where she had gone missing and was later raped by two neighbours.

Her family has also moved out of the house and are planning to take up residence somewhere else once her treatment is over.

The girl reads and writes inside her room, as she cannot attend school with other students; doctors have advised her not to strain herself. She will undergo another reconstructive surgery to repair her private parts in six months' time.

"She likes to stay here. She finds it nice and gets good food. She does not want to go back home," said the mother of the five-year-old when HT visited her at the shelter. According to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), a special diet is being provided to her at the shelter on their directions. She is living at the shelter with her mother and younger brother.

"We had visited a number of shelters but zeroed in on YWCA as it is centrally located and is near to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where she is undergoing treatment. A social worker has also been placed round-the-clock to look after the child," said Ajay Singh, chairperson of CWC of east district.

According to the support person, the girl has not talked about the incident and usually plays with her younger brother most of the time.

"The scars of the injury are visible all over her body and we have told her that it will take some time to heal. She likes to draw and the shelter has provided her crayons and a drawing book," said the support person.

She was raped on April 15.