Union home ministerSushilkumar Shinde on Monday made a statement in both the Houses of Parliamentgiving details of the rape of a five-year-old girl as well as the police response to it. However, he sought to underline that rapes were happening not only in the national capital, but elsewhere in the country too.
Making a suo motu statement in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Shinde apprised the MPs of the arrest of two accused in the child rape case from Bihar. Manoj, the main accused, was arrested on Saturday, followed by the arrest of Pradeep, a second accused, on Sunday night.
He said the Station House Officer (SHO) of the concerned police station in Gandhinagar and the Investigating Officer (IO) have been placed under suspension, taking note of lapses in the investigation.
“The Joint CP (Vigilance) has been asked to conduct an inquiry. The Jt CP (Vigilance) shall also enquire into the allegation that the local police paid some money to the father of the victim to hush up the case,” Shinde said amidst uproar in both the Houses over the horrific rape incident.
However, in what may agitate the anti-rape protestors even more,Shinde said incidents of rape happen not only in Delhi, but elsewhere in the country too. The fact that the statement was silent on action against the errant police officers may also do little to quell the protests in the Capital.
Shinde said two accused have been arrested in connection with the case.
Pradeep, the second suspect, was apprehended from Bihar in a joint operation by Delhi and Bihar Police.
Medical examination of the first accused, arrested from Muzaffarpur district of Bihar on April 19, has been conducted for DNA, he said.
The accused is presently under judicial custody. Speaking against the backdrop of major uproar and street protests, Shinde told the House that the five-year-old girl was reported missing on April 15 and an FIR was registered at 10 pm.
“The police started searching and conducting raids in the East Delhi area,” the home minister said.
In the early hours of April 17, 2013, the mother of the girl heard a weeping sound of the child from the ground floor of the same house where her parents lived on the first floor, Shinde said.
The ground floor was found locked from outside and the police, when informed, broke open the door and recovered the child, he said.
The girl was rushed to Swami Dayanand Hospital, which is the nearest, and preliminary medico-legal case confirmed “sexual assault of brutal kind”, Shinde said.
Her condition was reported to be stable after an operation conducted on April 18. She was later shifted to AIIMS on April 19 for better treatment and presently her condition is reported to be stable, he said.
In the meantime, on April 19, some protesters were holding a demonstration at the Dayanand Hospital where the concerned minister of the Delhi government was visiting to enquire about the health of the child along with the local MP, Shinde said.
Some protesters tried to break through the police cordon around the hospital in order to enter the premises, he said.
An ACP was seen on camera slapping one of the lady protesters, the hime minister said, adding the officer BS Ahlawat has been placed under suspension with immediate effect.