A Delhi Government officer, who allegedly raped a minor several times and impregnated her, was arrested on Monday after police questioned him and his wife and recording the statement of the victim.
His wife has also been charged with giving the girl medicine to terminate her pregnancy, they said.
Shortly before he was arrested in the case which was registered on August 13, Premoday Khakha 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 Burari, 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.
“Both Khakha and his wife have been arrested in connection with the case. The case was registered on August 13,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi.
The couple was detained for questioning earlier in the day. They were arrested after the victim recorded her statement before a magistrate at a hospital. During the day, a police team visited the house of the accused.
While Seema Rani was produced in court after her arrest, Khakha will be produced on Tuesday, the police said.
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.
“I want to request the Delhi Police and the judiciary to take the strictest action against the accused as soon as possible,” she said.
The police said the case was registered under provisions of the POCSO Act and Indian Penal Code sections 376(2)(f) (being a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman, commits rape on such woman) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman).
IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) have also been invoked.
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 XII, recently narrated the incident to a counsellor at a hospital where she was admitted following an anxiety attack, the police officer said.
The accused allegedly sexually assault her several times, the officer said.