A 12-year-old girl was raped by a 52-year-old man in an outlying Delhi graveyard.
He tricked her into believing he was performing occult rituals to cure her father, who was terminally ill, and had then given her Rs 51 to keep the incident a secret, police said on Wednesday after arresting the suspect.
The girl lives with her three siblings, a four-year-old brother and a five-year-old sister, and her father, who is a fruit vendor who has been diagnosed with a chronic lung condition. The suspect worked for a long time at the graveyard, resident of the neighbourhood, and used to assist the family with small household tasks. It's uncertain if he engaged in occult activities before.
The man raped the girl on Monday night, according to investigators, and was taken into custody on Tuesday.
According to the officers, on Tuesday afternoon, a call about the incident was received by the police control room.
Based on the girl's statement, authorities subsequently filed a complaint at the Kanjhawala police station under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and Section 64 (rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
According to the girl's statement, the man came to their home on Monday morning and requested that her father send her to get groceries for an occult ceremony from a nearby store.
An Investigator said, "He also asked the father to send the girl to the graveyard later to perform some rituals that would improve his health."
The girl went to a store first, and from there she went to the graveyard near her house.
The accused first circled the girl with a few cloves at the graveyard. Then he instructed her to go to a grave and light some incense sticks.
The officer claimed, "The man then took the girl to the back of the graveyard and raped her." The suspect allegedly threatened the girl's father's death and warned her not to tell anyone.
The officer stated, "He also gave her Rs 51 to conceal the incident."
Fearing for her father's life, she returned home that evening and kept the incident to herself despite feeling ill and having genital bleeding.
She told her sister about the incident on Tuesday morning when her bleeding and health condition worsened. She then notified the police and her father.
According to the police, the girl was examined at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital.
The doctors told police that the girl was in stable condition.
Members of the Delhi Commission for Women and a non-governmental organisation gave the victim counseling later in the day.
The accused was arrested from a place in Kanjhawala.