A 7-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two juveniles in Kanjhawla, outer Delhi while she was on her way to use the community toilet along with her 12-year-old sister.
Background
The girl wanted to relieve herself at the community toilet along with her 12-year-old sister. Two boys who lived in the same JJ colony offered to drop her off on their cycle. However, they took a detour to a secluded spot behind the washroom and raped her.
When her sister reached the bathroom which was 200 metres away from their home, she couldn’t find her sister. Waiting at the entrance, she heard her screams and rushed to help. Seh found that the two boys were sexually assaulting her and the little girl was bleeding. They were attempting to gag her but on seeing her sister, they ran away.
The girl’s sister called a neighbour for help and she gave her some medicines. Later, she was taken to a hospital in an ambulance.
The 7-year-old knew the boys for the past four months from her dance class and her father, a carpenter, wasn’t home at the time of the incident. Her mother too wasn’t around as she had gone to her native village in Bihar for Chhath Puja.
Arrest
Additional DCP (outer) Amit Sharma confirmed that an FIR has been registered and the two juveniles have been apprehended, reported The Times of India.
The complaint was filed by the girl’s sister who said that the incident took place at around 3:30 PM when they were returning from school.
The girl is now stable and her statement will be later taken by the police after counselling.
Residents of JJ colony informed that this is the second incident within a year where a minor has been raped while going to the washroom. “There are around 18,000 residents, but most of the houses don’t have toilets. The colony was set up in 2006,” said Mahmood Akhtar, who teaches at the local mosque. Women said they are scared of using the toilet at odd hours.
The Logical Indian community is perturbed by the incident. Such cases of sexual assault directly point to the problems in our society and how it fails to equate women to men even in the 21st century. When children rape a minor, it shows the patriarchal and misogynistic background they are raised in. All of us share the blame and need to open our minds for the country to progress in the right direction.