For the 7-year-old rape victim from the Mangolpuri MCD school, life is far from being on a path to normalcy.
The girl, a Class II student, has stopped going to school and had even skipped her annual exam. The reason behind her skipping the school and annual exam is her safety and security. Her parents feel that sending her to school could jeopardize her life as the rape accused was still at large.
The victim's father said that shocking incident has "changed our perspective towards life and it has become horrific as now everyone just takes pity on us."
"Since February 28, my daughter stopped going to school and now she is spending her time inside the home because every time she steps out, locals start staring at," the father added.
"She always insisted that she wanted to go school but we cannot allow her to go school and due to this, she also skipped her annual exam," he said.
A few days after the incident, she tried going back to school but returned traumatized. She had been bombarded with questions about the incident and her mental health there. "There is a possibility that the accused is looking for an opportunity to eliminate my daughter as she is the only eyewitness who can identify him," he claimed.
It has been 20 days since the incident came to light and police are still groping in the dark to make any arrest. "We have questioned all school staff, including lower rank employees but did not get any major breakthrough," an official said.
However, sources said investigations have revealed that a relative may be involved and the rape may have taken place outside the school. "Our probe has suggested that she was raped by a relative. The victim was taken to that relative's home by her aunty (attendant) on that fateful day after school," a senior police officer close to the investigation said.
According to the complaint, on February 28 the victim had gone to collect her midday meal when she was reportedly taken to a vacant classroom on the first floor of the school and raped. The victim's father alleged that the culprit tied his daughter's hands and stuffed a cloth into the mouth before raping her. The incident came to light when she returned home and her parents noticed injuries. They took her to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, where doctors confirmed that she was raped. Subsequently, the police were alerted.