Duty-bound to protect, welfare officer rapes minor!

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: The multiple rapes of a minor by none other than a women and child development department officer in Delhi rocked the national capital on Monday with Delhi Commission for Women(DCW) chief Swati Maliwal sitting on a dharna at a hospital on Monday, claiming that she was prevented from meeting the victim.

The commission also sent a notice to the Delhi Police and the city government's women and child development and services departments, seeking action in the matter.

Maliwal said it was "shocking" that the Delhi police did not arrest the accused even eight days after the registration of the FIR.

The police has arrested the Delhi government officer, who allegedly raped the minor several times and impregnated her, and his wife after questioning them and recording the statement of the victim, officials said.

Shortly before he was arrested, Premoday Khaka was suspended from his post as deputy director in Women and Child Development (WCD) Department following a direction from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Khakha and his wife Seema Rani are residents of Shakti Enclave in the Burari area, the police said, adding the girl was staying at the residence of the accused, a family friend whom she calls 'mama', after her father passed away on October 1, 2020, the police said.

The accused, an ex-cadre officer, had allegedly raped the girl several times between November 2020 and January 2021.

WCD Minister Atishi told PTI that the charges against the officer were "worrisome and shocking" because he had the responsibility to ensure the safety and security of women and children.

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 girl returned home with her mother in January 2021 when she came to meet her.

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.

Responding to National Commission for Women (NCW) Chairperson Rekha Sharma's statement on X alleging that the DCW's "own officer has been raping a girl since the last two years", Maliwal said legal action will be taken in the matter for "false accusations and defaming the commission".