Days after a 10-year-old boy was sexually assaulted by three of his friends in north-east Delhi’s Seelampur area, he succumbed to his injuries on Saturday the police said.
Two of the accused were apprehended and questioned by the Juvenile Justice Board. They were later handed over to their families. The third accused remains absconding. The victim and the accused were neighbours and were of the same age group. One of the accused was the victim’s cousin, the police said.
The victim’s mother said that her son had initially lied to her about his injuries out of fear, but had later revealed about the incident that happened on September 18. He was admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital on September 22.
The victim’s mother, a domestic worker, said she saw an injury on her son’s foot. “Initially, he told me that it happened while playing,” she said.
Recorded video
The victim’s mother had recorded a video of him narrating his ordeal in which he says the accused sexually assaulted him, hit him with a brick and an iron rod. He further says that the accused then threw him off the terrace of a house.
‘Shouldn’t be spared’
“The accused need to be behind bars. They should not be spared due to their age. My son has suffered a lot, he struggled to sleep, I can never forget that,” the victim’s father said.
The deceased is survived by his parents and five siblings. The victim’s brother said that till September 30, the boy was in the ICU with several internal injuries and infection.
The victim’s sister said the doctors on Friday had assured them that he will be discharged soon. On Saturday at 6-6.30 a.m, the doctors told the family that he had fever since last night and his heart had stopped beating. “Within minutes, we were told that he succumbed to his injuries. We lost a young life in a span of few minutes,” she said.
“The boy was brought to the hospital on September 22. He had suffered internal injuries. It was a similar case of what happened in the Nirbhaya case,” a source said.
“Prima facie, it seems that the boy died due to the internal injuries and septicemia. But we will have to wait for further reports to know the exact cause,” a source said.
