Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday ordered the suspension of the senior officer working in the Delhi government’s Woman and Child Development Department who is accused of raping a minor girl. The CM also has sought a report from the Chief Secretary in connection with the case by 5 PM today, reports ANI.
The accused, a deputy director in the Women and Child Development department, was detained by police. A police team had visited his residence in Burari today.
The officer had allegedly raped the 16-year-old daughter of his friend, following his death, several times between 2020 and 2021. The accused’s wife is alleged to have terminated the girl’s pregnancy by giving her abortion pills, reported The Indian Express.
DCP North District Sagar Singh Kalsi told ANI that the duo – accused and his wife – are being interrogated. “Depending on the investigation, if arrests need to be made, it will be done. Any other witnesses or accused will be made a part of the investigation,” he said.
The minor girl is a Class 12 student studying in a school in north Delhi.
Police said that when the girl’s father died in 2020, he took her with him offering to take care of her. Her mother had agreed as they were friends.
A senior police officer told IE, “She was raped for months and got pregnant sometime in 2021. When the accused found out, he told his wife. The wife then ordered abortion pills and terminated the child’s pregnancy. As per the girl’s family, she fell sick later and was taken back by her mother. The mother later took her to doctors and specialists who found that the child was abused for months by the officer and his family.”
The officer and his wife have been booked under IPC sections 376 2f (being a guardian, commits rape on woman), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 323 (causing hurt), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and sections of POCSO Act.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Monday sent a notice to the Delhi Police, seeking the arrest of a senior Delhi government official.
She had earlier said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “If the one whose job is to protect the daughters turns into a predator, then where will the girls go?”
“In Delhi, a government officer sitting on the post of deputy director in the women and child development department has been accused of sexually abusing a girl child. The police haven’t arrested him yet. Issuing notice to Delhi Police. If the one whose job was to protect the daughters turns into a predator, then where will the girls go! He must be arrested soon,” Maliwal said.