A 34-year-old man was arrested for allegedly raping a nine-year-old girl when she had gone to use the public toilet near her house in a Vasant Kunj camp on Wednesday night, the police said on Friday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Devender Arya said accused has been identified as Prakash, a ragpicker in the area. Sources said Prakash was caught by locals of a nearby camp on Thursday afternoon, while he was allegedly holding a four-year-old girl in his arms against her wishes.
“He had held the four-year-old on Wednesday as well. On Thursday, he was holding the same girl when her mother spotted and caught him. The locals thrashed him before handing him over to the police,” said a police officer.
Girl identified accused
The 9-year-old victim identified the accused on Thursday, after which he was arrested. The girl told the police that she had scratched him on the arms. He had scratch marks on his arms.
The victim’s father, who runs a small grocery store in the camp near their house, said the girl was slightly better on Friday. “She took a sip of water and juice, but she is not eating anything,” he said. “The girl is traumatised. When we asked the parents if we can bring the accused to the hospital for identification, they refused,” the police said.“Her face is swollen and her eyes are blood red. There are injury marks all over her body. She would have been scared to see the man, so we refused,” the father said.
The father said that investigators had come on two occasions and showed the accused’s picture on a mobile phone to his daughter, after which she identified him. “We were also scared as we thought the relatives of the accused might come and take revenge for his arrest. We did not want to face him either,” he said.
Meanwhile, the camp residents protested on Friday claiming involvement of more people in the incident. They allegedly blocked the road, after which several police officers reached the spot and attempted to control the situation. However, residents allegedly started throwing stones and the police had to resort to crowd-controlling measures. A few police officers and locals sustained minor injuries.
The police however, refuted claims and maintained that there is only one accused in the incident.
