Family members of a four-year-old girl who was brutalised in Keshav Puram on Friday said they suspected two men who had offered toffees to the girl in the past.
The police have zeroed in on one of them and detained him. He lives in the same slum cluster as the victim and some local people had seen him taking her somewhere. Earlier, the victim’s grandfather, who saw her in an injured state after the suspect(s) abandoned her in the bushes, said the family was aware that strangers offered her chocolates which she would bring home.
“We always told her not to accept things from strangers. But being little, she could not gauge the intentions of a new face or distinguish between good and bad,” he said.
Recalling the horrific experience he had when he found his granddaughter, he said there were cuts on the lips, faces and private parts, which he suspected were inflicted using a razor blade. Other than injuries by a sharp object, doctors have noticed several bite marks on her body. The child is now admitted to the High Dependency Unit at Safdarjung Hospital.
Though the girl was out of danger, doctors said that because her private parts were injured, a three-hour long colostomy was performed to provide an alternate opening for passage of stool.
“She is under constant monitoring and a team of staffers are with her to minimise the pain. But such cases leave a trauma in the mind and we would engage medical professionals to deal with it once she gets better,” said Safdarjung Medical Superintendent A.K. Rai.
The girl’s grandfather further said a liquor vend in the area was a den for anti-social elements and the two men he suspected were regulars there.
