12-year-old Delhi girl critical after savage sexual assault, one arrested
07 Aug 2020 08:28:17
CM Kejriwal and DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal visit AIIMS to meet the survivor’s family in New Delhi.
NEW DELHI,
A 12-YEAR-OLD girl, who was sexually assaulted and found in a pool of blood two nights ago, is battling for life with grievous intestinalandheadinjuries,doctors saidonThursday asoutrage overthecaseescalatedandpolice finally arrested one person. Late on Thursday night, after a day of protests and anguish expressedbypoliticians,activists and others, one man was arrested on charges of attempting to murder and sexually assaulting insideherhomeinPeeragarhiin west Delhi. Themanwas identifiedonthe basis of CCTV footage and has previouscriminalrecords,police officials said without disclosing his identity. Thechild,whoseparentswork as labourers in a factory, was beaten and brutalised with a sharp object. She is critical and on oxygen support, said a seniordoctorattheAllIndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where she is admitted. “Shehasamassiveheadinjury and she is critical. Her rectum and intestines were injured severely by some kind of impalement for which she needed immediateinterventionandthat iswhy shewasoperateduponas soonasshereachedtheinstitute,” he said.
Police said that the girl, who lives with her parents and elder sister, was found by neighbours in a pool of blood on Tuesday evening. She was alone at the time. She was first taken to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital and later shifted to AIIMS for further treatment. Given the seriousness of her condition– recalling thehorrors oftheNirbhayarape case --doctors operated on her that night itself. “Duringthesurgery,her intestines and rectum were repaired and perforations were closed. She also may require neurosurgical intervention. She is disoriented at present and is being closely monitored 24x7,”asenior doctor said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited the hospital, said the “barbaric attack” on the girl had led to injuries that are even hard to even describe. Earlier,inatweet,hesaidthebrutality inflicted on the girl has “shaken his soul”. TheDelhigovernmentwillhire the bestlawyers forthe case and ensure the accused gets the strictest punishment, he said. The injuries on her body were caused by a sharp object, a senior police official added. The minor was not just sexually assaulted but also hit on her head and her face with a sharp object, he said. According to a Delhi Commission forWomen (DCW) insider, only her father worked initially. However, given the financial crisis in the family following the lockdown, her mothertoostartedworkinginthesame factory.
That was probably why she was alone at home. DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal,whoalsovisitedthegirl in hospital, said she had multiple fractures and bite marks all over her body. “She has been so brutally assaulted that every body part has injury marks,” Maliwal said. The rape of the young girl, highlighting once again the vulnerability of women in India’s national capital, led to outrage all over. “Finally, now the police has arrested a person.
There shouldbenodelayingettingjustice for the daughter. May God bless the girl with good health. Rape cannot be allowed to become a common practice in the country,” Maliwal tweeted after the arrest. East Delhi MP and BJP leader Gautam Gambhir also demanded death penalty for the culprit. “Thebrutalrapeofa 12-yr-old childisabsolutelyhorrific!Those animals deserve nothing less than death. All of us are praying for her and I urge @DelhiPolice to bring the perpetrators to justice at the earliest,” he tweeted. DelhiCongress worker staged a protestoutside AIIMS andalso approached Lieutenant GovernorAnilBaijaloverthelaw and order situation in the city.
“A shameful case of rape of a 13-year-old girl from Bihar in Peeragarhi area of the national capital has come to light. This incident has again shamed humanity and showed the kind of hatred that exists against womeninthesociety.Thosewho doitshouldbehanged,”women’s rights activist Yogita Bhayana tweeted. The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has issued a notice to the SHO of the Paschim Vihar Police Station.