An 87-year-old bed-ridden woman was raped and thrashed by an unidentified man at her residence in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar on Sunday afternoon, the police said.
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The victim’s family said police officers tried to persuade them not to report rape and lodge a complaint of theft instead.
Additional Commissioner of Police (western range) Chinmoy Biswal, who is also PRO, Delhi Police, denied the allegations levelled by the family and said that teams are focusing on promptly investigation the case and arresting the accused.
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The victim’s grandson-in-law told The Hindu that the octogenarian — who lives with her 65-year-old daughter — was alone at home around 12.30 p.m. when the incident took place. “My mother-in-law had gone to take a stroll in the locality and had latched the door from outside because the grandmother can’t walk and is confined to bed. About five minutes later, a man entered the house and said he had come to check the gas connection. The grandmother handed him the phone and asked him to call the daughter but he switched off the phone instead,” the son-in-law said.
According to the family, the accused stayed at the house for an hour and raped the 87-year-old. “Nani (grandmother)said the man was around 30 years old and was drunk. She kept screaming in Punjabi that she was old and bed-ridden but the man raped her and thrashed her,” he said, adding that the man left the house around 1.30 p.m. and took the grandmother’s old phone with him, leaving the rest of the house untouched.
When the victim’s daughter returned around 1.45 p.m., she saw the old woman in an injured state — blood oozing out of her mouth and her clothes badly torn. She told the daughter about the rape who then informed a neighbour and the latter made a call to the police, the son-in-law said.
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Mobile theft report
“When the police reached the house, my mother-in-law and grandmother told them what happened. The police officers, including a senior officer, tried to persuade them against filing a rape complaint and told them they will have to attend court proceedings and move around a lot to pursue the case. They also tod them that a rape case may lead to a lot of ‘harassment’ and involved the ‘izzat’ (honour) of a woman. My mother-in-law got intimidated and lodged a theft of phone report only,” he said.
On Monday morning, a relative living in Pune reached Delhi and, along with others, convinced the octogenarian and her daughter to report the matter as it happened. “The police were still not taking us seriously and were trying to dissuade us. We had to take the help of social media to highlight the matter after which, a senior police officer listened to us,” the son-in-law said.
Mr. Biswal said there was no negligence or persuasion by police officers on Sunday and the family gave a handwritten complaint of theft of mobile phone. “On Monday, they shared further details of rape with the senior lady after which adequate sections of the Indian Penal Code were added,” he said, adding that medical examination of the victim was also facilitated at home initially and later at the hospital.
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He further said that a Special Investigation Team has been constituted to probe the matter.
Sources said the complainant in the case is victim’s other daughter who lives closeby and an FIR has been registered under Sections 380 (theft), 323 (causing hurt) and 376 (punishment for rape) of the IPC.
The victim’s family said the octogenarian is in pain and hasn’t been able to stop crying since the incident. “In November last year, she was hospitalised thrice because of age-related complications and we thought she won’t survive. She constantly complains of pain in her veins. She has been bed-ridden for seven months now,” the son-in-law said.