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The victim’s father, Radhey Shyam, a labourer based in Bawana, said the girl had noted registration number of the car in which she was raped and gave it to the police. But the police did not take any action, Shyam said. They reportedly did not even take the victim for an immediate medical examination, as is required by the law. To dissuade him from making an official complaint, “I was even offered Rs 1.5 lakh as compensation,” Shyam said.
According to medical reports, the victim underwent medical examination at 5.30 pm; it confirmed rape, and that finally shook the police.
The 12-year-old victim and her father today said she was asked to wait outside Balaji Temple, near Swaroop Nagar Police Station, as others in the family went inside. It was 1.30 pm, and Constable Sanjeev Rana (29) and Naresh Kumar, a property dealer, arrived in a Maruti Zen car (DL 8C D 4119). “One of them put his hand on my mouth and forced me into the car.”
She has told police that the two raped her in the moving car for the next half-hour or so. At about 2 pm, she was dropped back at the spot where she was picked up.
Shyam said they had asked the girl to stand guard near their sandals when they went inside the temple. But, she was nowhere to be found when the family members came out. “After searching the area for about half-an-hour we found her on the main road. She was crying.”
Told about the rape, the family went to the Swaroop Nagar Police Station.
Cops in action
Once rape was confirmed, the police began raiding areas in and around Nangli Pura (where the incident took place) and found the car just about two metres ahead of the temple.
The police received a bigger jolt after arresting the accused in the evening: he was a constable. Defying norms, the two were kept at the police station for a long time — a medical examination on them was conducted six hours after their arrest, at 1.30 am.
Sanjeev Rana is posted with Teen Murti Traffic Lines.
Joint CP (Traffic), S.N Srivasatava said Rana did not report for work for the past 12 days. “He was suspended as soon as we came to know about the matter. Now he has been terminated.”
Naresh is a property dealer based in Alipur area.
“Sanjeev has been arrested for abduction and rape. Naresh has been arrested for abduction and common intention,” DCP (Outer) Sagar Preet Hooda said.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Empowerment summoned Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal and joint commissioner-level officers to discuss safety and security of women in the city. The committee, headed by Congress MP Krishna Tirath, asked for a detailed report about the action taken by police in recent incidents of crime against women.
Senior officers called it a “routine” meeting, not related to yesterday’s incident.
Toddler escapes rape bid: A three-year-old barely escaped from falling victim to a rape attempt by a 30-year-old man — a known history-sheeter. The toddler, playing outside her home near Railway Colony in Sarai Rohilla, north-west district, was lured by sweets into a remote corner late Thursday night, the police said. The child’s frightened screams brought her parents and neighbours to her rescue. The assailant, Gurmeet Singh had only been released from prison the a day before the incident.
He had served four years in jail in a rape case.
Evidence torched
The police could not safeguard a major piece of evidence: the Zen car impounded from the accused. On Friday morning, residents of Swaroop Nagar stoned and set the car on fire in the police station premises.
Officials said a group of 60 arrived at the police station this morning and first threw stones on the car’s windows. One man then doused a cloth with petrol, set it on fire and threw it inside the car, damaging its seats. Though the car had an LPG cylinder, the fire did not touch it, the police said.
Two persons have been arrested for the offence. “They told us that they thought a cop from the police station had raped the child,” a police official said. The victim and her family members were at the police station when the incident occurred.
Senior officers, however, said the matter is serious because it could be the handiwork of families accused in the case. On Thursday night, the family of accused Naresh had gone to the police station claiming he was innocent. They even produced a man, identified as Pawan, and claimed he was the accused.
But his contradictory statements “made us dismiss the allegations”, a senior officer said.”
— SAHIM SALIM


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