delhi

Updated: May 18, 2017 23:58 IST

In a grim reminder of the Rohtak rape case, a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her stepfather in south Delhi’s Saket area on Tuesday. She has been admitted to a hospital with internal injuries. The police have arrested the man who allegedly tried to rape the girl twice before.

The matter came to light on Wednesday after the girl complained about pain in her private parts to her mother. Though her mother ignored it, a woman in the neighbourhood later saw the girl bleeding. She said when she confronted the girl’s mother, she was told that it was their “private matter” and they did not want her to interfere.

“The girl often played with my children. On Wednesday morning when I was sitting outside my house, I saw the girl in pain. She was bleeding and throwing up. When I asked her if she informed her mother about it, she said her mother had refused to take her to a doctor,” the neighbour, who is not being named to protect the identity of the victim, said.

The woman then called up Delhi government’s woman helpline number - 181 - and also informed the police. The police then took the girl for a medical examination, which revealed that she had been sexually abused.

“The mother wanted me to keep quiet,” the neighbour alleged. “When I tried to talk to the girl in front of her stepfather, she told me that she fell from the stairs and got injured,” she said. According to the woman, when the girl tried to speak to her, her stepfather slapped her and confined her to the house. That’s when she decided to report them to the police.

In her statement, the girl alleged that her stepfather took her to a house in Saket where he worked as a cook and allegedly sexually assaulted her. She alleged that he told her he was doing it for her good. She said when she tried to raise an alarm, he threatened her of dire consequences.

“Following the information, the man was arrested on Thursday. A case of rape has been registered against him,” a senior police officer said.

According to the police, the man had allegedly attempted to rape the girl earlier too. On Tuesday, he took her with him on the pretext to show her his workplace.

Police said he knew that he would be alone at home as his employers were out. “He took that opportunity to assault the girl. He told her he would kill her and her mother if she dared to reveal it to anyone,” a police officer said.

The girl is now undergoing treatment. “She is in a state of shock. After she recuperates, we will rope in an NGO for her counselling,” a police officer said. The couple has five children.

“We received a call on women’s helpline 181 and a counsellor was sent to the victim’s house. Police were informed. The girl’s condition is very serious. Her private parts are infected with pus and according to the doctors, she will have to undergo surgery. We will monitor the case,” officials from the Delhi Commission for Women said.