Delhi official held for raping girl in his care

A government officer in Delhi's women and child development department, along with his wife, has been arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl for months.

An officer in Delhi’s women and child development (WCD) department accused of raping a minor girl for months was arrested along with his wife on Monday, even as the state government suspended him from his position amid mounting outrage over a case that has stunned the national capital and set off a swirling political controversy.

Premoday Khakha (LinkedIn)

The arrests came hours after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal ordered the state administration to remove the suspect, Premoday Khakha (51), who served as an assistant director in the WCD department.

Delhi’s deputy commissioner of police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi confirmed that Khakha and his wife, Seema Rani (50), were taken into custody hours after officers recorded the survivor’s statement on Monday. The first information report in the case, under sections of rape, molestation, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, causing hurt, causing miscarriage without consent, criminal conspiracy, common intention, and under the Pocso Act, was registered at Burari police station on August 13.

Khakha was booked on August 13 for raping and impregnating a 17-year-old girl who lived under his care with his family in their home in outer Delhi’s Burari. The man’s wife administered the girl abortion pills later on.

According to the survivor’s complaint, Khakha, whom she called “Mama” (maternal uncle), brought her to his residence in October 2020, after her father died of Covid-19.

Khakha raped her repeatedly between November 2020 and January 2021, she said, adding that she returned to her mother, who also lives in Burari, in April 2021, saying she “did not like to live with Khakha’s family”, said police, citing the complaint. It is unclear if she was assaulted after January 2021.

However, for more than two years, the girl did not inform her mother about the sexual assault or use of contraceptive pills.

The survivor’s and Khakha’s families were friends and acquainted with each other from a small, tight-knit neighbourhood church that both were members of.

Khakha joined the Delhi government over 25 years ago as a welfare officer. He also served as the superintendent of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which oversees the rehabilitation of delinquent minors.

A student of Class 10 in an open school, the girl is being treated at a Delhi hospital and will be under observation for a few days, said police.

An investigator said the couple was detained from their residence on Monday afternoon and were arrested around 4.30pm.

“During interrogations, the husband and wife denied that they raped the girl or gave her abortion pills,” said Kalsi.

Police registered a first information report (FIR) on August 13, and said the arrests were made only eight days later because the girl was unwell and not able to issue a statement before a magistrate, as is the mandated procedure in cases of sexual assault.

“The doctors had earlier told us that she was not fit to give her statement. She then recorded her statement on Monday afternoon, after which the arrests were made,” the officer said.

The incident only came to light earlier this month, after the girl suffered a series of anxiety attacks, which also impacted her classes.

On August 7, her mother took her to a city hospital to get checked. There, during multiple counselling sessions, she made sexual assault allegations against Khakha and “five or six other people”. The police did not identify who these other people were.

She then told the counsellor about the alleged rape and subsequent abortion. The counsellor informed the police on the evening of August 12.

The girl’s family, as well as Khakha, hail from Ranchi in Jharkhand.

The girl and her parents earlier lived in Usmanpur in northeast Delhi, and the two families were acquainted in 1998, when they first met at the neighbourhood church in Shahdara’s Bihari Colony. The church later moved to Burari, the neighbourhood where Khakha’s family had shifted. The survivor and her family moved to the area in October 2020.

The incident set off widespread outrage on Monday, with senior political figures in the Capital, led by chief minister Kejriwal, calling for strict action.

Kejriwal on Monday morning ordered Delhi’s chief secretary Naresh Kumar to remove Khakha and sought an action-taken report by 5pm.

Kumar on Monday evening issued orders suspending Khakha and ordering disciplinary proceedings against him.

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, meanwhile, called the incident “horrific” and said it had shamed humanity.

“Action should have been taken by this point. Since no action has been taken, the chief minister has intervened and directed that the officer must be suspended. We will provide all possible legal assistance to the girl,” he said.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal said she will issue a notice to the police over the delay in action.

“If the one whose job was to protect the daughters turns into a predator, then where will the girls go?”

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Delhi unit, however, cited a note from then WCD minister Kailash Gahlot’s secretary, which said the latter had sought Khakha’s appointment as his officer on special duty (OSD).

Delhi BJP secretary Bansuri Swaraj in a press conference said the BJP strongly condemned the incident and sought Gahlot’s resignation.

“In this case, Khakha has got strength from Gahlot who should also take moral responsibility and resign,” she said.

In a statement, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said: “This heinous crime on a minor girl child shakes the conscious of our society as a whole. BJP must answer why the Delhi Police did not arrest the accused immediately when the FIR was registered on August 13, 2023. Under whose pressure did the police shield an officer accused of such depravity? We demand a detailed inquiry to investigate these major procedural lacunae.”