Delhi child welfare official accused of raping friend's teen daughter

A senior official of the Delhi government's Women and Child Development department has been booked for allegedly raping his friend's minor daughter several times and impregnating her, police said on Sunday.

The girl was staying with the accused - a deputy director in the WCD department - and his family at their house after her father passed away on October 1, 2020.

The accused had allegedly raped the girl several times between November 2020 and January 2021, a senior police officer said, adding his wife has also been charged with giving her medicine to terminate pregnancy.

Responding to the allegation against the official, the Delhi government said "the sternest possible action should be taken against him" if found guilty.

"He (the accused) is a deputy director in the WCD Department. Since an FIR has been lodged in the alleged matter, the law should take its course. The Delhi government is sensitive in regard to such serious matters of women's safety and child abuse. If he has committed any such reprehensible act, the sternest possible action should be taken against him," the government said in a statement.

The matter involving the official and his wife came to light when the girl, who is now in Class 12, recently narrated the incident to a counsellor at a hospital where she was admitted following an anxiety attack, the police officer said.

The girl was staying with the accused and his family at their house after her father passed away on October 1, 2020. The accused used this opportunity to allegedly sexually assault her several times, the officer added.

When the minor allegedly became pregnant, she informed the wife of the accused who later asked her son to get medicines for pregnancy termination and gave them to the girl, the officer said.

The girl returned home with her mother in January 2021 when she came to meet her. She had an anxiety attack in August this year and her mother admitted her to St Stephen's hospital, where the girl narrated the whole incident during the counselling session, the officer added.

Later, the hospital informed the Burari police station here and a case was registered against the accused under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the police said.

Police said the case was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 376(2)(f)(being a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman, commits rape on such woman), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman), 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 313 (causing miscarriage without women's consent), 120B ( (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the POCSO Act.

The girl's statement is yet to be recorded before the magistrate, the police officer said, adding that an inquiry is being conducted into the matter.

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Police said after the death of her father, she started living with a family friend, her guardian. She was sexually harassed, molested and repeatedly raped by the uncle under whose care and guardianship she was staying at his house, they said.

"She averred having undergone termination of pregnancy by the perpetrator and his wife. Medicolegal examination has been done. The investigation is in progress," police said.

The survivor is still recovering and is under care, they added.