Slamming the Delhi Police for inaction, apathy and delay in taking action in the brutal rape case of a five-year-old girl currently under medical care at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has in its report confirmed that “there was significant delay and apathy on the part of the police in recording the complaint” and taking the matter seriously after the child had gone missing.
“Had they conducted a search of the immediate surroundings the child would have been found and even the incident might have been averted. Certainly the child could have been rescued earlier since she was kept captive in the same building as her family resided,” noted a report submitted by the NCPCR team (comprising two of its members – Dr. Vandana Prasad and Ms. Nina Nayak) that met with the victim’s family and doctors at the Institute on Saturday.
The team has submitted its report and recommendation to the Government and has demanded immediate action in the case. The NCPCR team had visited the victim at AIIMS.
Stating that the victim’s father was a labourer and her mother a housewife, the team in its report said: “The couple has one more child, a boy aged two years, and lives in a one-room tenement on the first floor of a building located in Gandhi Nagar. The family hails from Bihar.”
Recording the statement by the victim’s father, the NCPCR report noted: “The father has alleged that the police had not called on the family nor undertaken any inquiry or search in the vicinity of their home after the complaint was lodged.”
“On April 17 around 6-30 am, the neighbours heard a whimpering sound from a room on the ground floor just below the room occupied by the family. It was locked from outside. They informed the parents and around 6-7 persons helped break the lock. They found the child lying in a pool of blood and covered with a blood-stained pair of adult sized pants. The mother picked up the child, took her to their room upstairs and informed the police who came over soon after and transported the parents and child to Swami Dayanand Hospital for admission,” noted the report.
“On April 18 night, the police came to meet with the parents at the hospital and according to the father, one policeman offered the family Rs.2,000 to cover ‘chai pani’ costs and asked them not to inform anyone as they would be of no help and assured them that the police would do the needful. On April 19 evening the child was shifted to AIIMS,” said the NCPCR team report.
The Commission has now recommended that with the only bread-winner of the family posted at the hospital his loss of wages needs to be compensated on a weekly basis.
“Also counselling needs to be made available to the family immediately as well as the child as soon as she is medically fit to receive it. Long term assistance and support will be required to ensure that the victim receives all the medical care required, including reconstruction surgery, free of cost and with ease,” recommended the Commission.
It has also demanded strict action against the erring police officers and noted that the Commissioner of Police must issue a notice to all police stations giving clear instructions and protocols on how to deal with missing children.
