New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) In yet another shocking incident, two sisters aged 11 and 13 years were allegedly raped by their mother’s paramour in Delhi for many months, as the courts Thursday expressed concern over rising rapes of women, especially minors.
Taking a serious note of the sexual assaults on women, especially the barbaric rape of a five-year-old girl ten days ago, the Delhi High Court commented that “something somewhere is wrong”.
The Supreme Court also commented on the prevailing situation and said the framers of the constitution did not visualize such incidents or provide for provisions to deal with them.
The apex court also took a dim view of police violence against women, saying that “if Mahatma Gandhi were to be born today, he would have died many times.”
The comments came as the police arrested Rakesh Mishra, 35, a motor mechanic, for sexually assaulting the two girls for several months. Mishra was in an illicit relationship with the girl’s mother. He was staying with them for the past one year.
The victim’s mother works as a domestic help.
“The accused had been staying in the victim’s house in Shahbad Dairy area for the past one year and raped the sisters several times,” a senior police officer told IANS.
On Wednesday night, the elder sister approached a neighbour and told her about the assault, who in turn informed the police. Police said medical examination confirmed rape.
The accused belongs to Uttar Pradesh’s Kushi Nagar and is married with five children.
Sexual attacks on minor girls continued to be reported from different parts of the country – showing the growing depravity in the society.
In Patna’s Muzaffarpur district, a 50-year-old man was arrested for allegedly raping a six-year-old girl who was playing outside his shop. The accused identified as Qamrul Hoda was arrested Wednesday evening. The incident triggered angry protests in the area.
In another rape case, police arrested a youth, Raju Rishideo, who allegedly sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl in a village under Alamganj block in Madhepura district.
Bihar has seen at least half a dozen cases of rape and gang-rape in the last four days.
In Bhubaneswar, President Mukherjee said the increase in cases of brutal assault on women and children has shaken the collective conscience of the nation.
“Such criminal depravity is a threat to the civilised functioning of society. The society must ensure the dignity and respect for women,” he said.
Commenting on the barbaric rape of a five-year-old girl that triggered massive street protests in the city and elsewhere, a division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath said : “Are people going mad? A five-year-old has been raped… Some sort of awareness is needed.”
The five-year-old girl was abducted April 15 and kept captive for two days without food and water in a room in which the attacker lived in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar.
The girl was rescued when her family members, who stay in the same building, heard her screams April 17. The two accused had inserted a small glass bottle and two candle pieces into her vagina. The episode, which comes four months after the Dec 16 gang-rape of a young woman, caused outrage in the national capital.
“Now we have to see how to prevent this type of crime and for that we have to find out the root cause. Everybody is very sad what is happening in Delhi. It’s a frequent thing here,” the court observed.
“Most of the accused belong to neighbouring states. How to prevent this,” the court asked while suggesting that the government should screen the people coming to the national capital from various states.
The bench said there was an “urgent” need to sensitise the police and directed the government to take necessary steps in this direction.
The Delhi Police have also attracted a lot of flak for delay in investigation into the five-year-old girl’s rape case. The victim’s father also accused the police for bribing them to hush up the case. One police officer was suspended for slapping a woman protester and was charged Thursday.
The Supreme Court said it would take a very serious view of another incident of police violence against a woman, and the person involved would have to bear the wrath of the court. The apex court said it would go beyond its norms in dealing with police personnel involved in such incidents.
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