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12-year-old raped during occult ritual to ‘cure’ father’s illness, 1 held
The suspect, who worked at the graveyard for years and lived in the neighbourhood, used to help the family with minor household chores.
A 52-year-old man raped a 12-year-old in a graveyard in outer Delhi, where he lured the girl on the pretext of performing occult rituals to cure her terminally ill father, and then handed her ₹51 to keep the incident to herself, police said on Wednesday after arresting the suspect.
The girl lives with her father, a fruit vendor who has been diagnosed with a chronic lung disease, and three siblings — a five-year-old sister and a four-year-old brother. The suspect, who worked at the graveyard for years and lived in the neighbourhood, used to help the family with minor household chores. It is unclear if he performed occult practices earlier.
Investigators said the man raped the girl on Monday evening and was arrested on Tuesday.
Officers said the police control room received a call reporting the crime on Tuesday afternoon.
Police then filed a case under Section 64 (rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act at the Kanjhawala police station based on the girl’s statement.
The girl, in her statement, said the man visited their house on Monday morning and asked the girl’s father to send her to pick up groceries from a nearby store for an occult ritual.
“He also asked the father to send the girl to the graveyard later to perform some rituals that would improve his health,” said an investigator.
The girl first went to a store and then headed to the graveyard near her home in a slum cluster.
At the graveyard, the accused first took a few cloves and circled them around the girl. He then asked her to light some incense sticks at a grave.
“The man then took the girl to the back of the graveyard and raped her,” the officer said. The suspect allegedly threatened the girl to not inform anyone and threatened that her father would die.
“He also gave her ₹51 to conceal the incident,” said the officer.
She went home that evening and kept the incident to herself, despite feeling unwell and bleeding from her genitalia, fearing for her father’s life.
However, on Tuesday morning, her health worsened and the bleeding worsened, after which she told her sister about the incident. She then informed her father and police.
Police said that the girl was taken to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital where she was examined. Doctors told police that the girl was stable.
Later in the day, the victim was counselled by members of the Delhi Commission for Women and a non-governmental organisation.
After the matter came to light, the accused was arrested from a place in Kanjhawala.
