The woman was out of her house in a village in the Indian capital on Monday evening when she was approached by a 6-year-old man named Sonia, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police R.P. Meena said.
Meena told CNN on Thursday, “The accused told her to go with him on his two-wheeler (vehicle) on the pretext that he was going to demand money back from someone and if he was with the old woman, he would feel sympathy for them.” .
Neighbors heard the woman screaming for help and called the police. Meena said the accused was apprehended at the scene and arrested on the charge of rape and voluntarily injuring Meena.
According to Meena, the woman did not know the accused and police do not believe the crime was prepared. The woman sustained minor injuries during the conflict and was discharged from the hospital as her health was stable, he added.
Under Indian law, rape carries a possible sentence of life imprisonment. The death penalty is also available for those convicted of repeated rape offenders, gang rape, or juvenile rape.
The case has sparked outrage from the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), a legal body investigating women’s safety and security issues.
On Wednesday, the DCW wrote a letter to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi – the constitutional head of the city – appealing to him to expedite the investigation into the case and ensure that the accused is given a stern sentence.
DCW president Swati Maliwal alleged that the 86-year-old girl had been assaulted and raped several times, though police have not confirmed the details.
According to the letter, the report of the woman’s medical examination revealed that there were many injuries and bruises on her body, especially on her limbs. “She’s suicidal and she’s traumatized.”
Following the case, campaigners called for tougher laws on sexual assault in the country. Despite the reforms – which included fast-track courts to expedite rape cases through the justice system – the number of reported rapes has increased since 2012.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, last year, more than 33,000 cases of alleged rape were reported – about 91 cases per day, or one rape every 16 minutes, according to the National Crime Records Bureau of India.
Maliwal told CNN on Thursday that after the 2012 gangrape, a law was passed stating that if a police officer refuses to register a rape complaint for any reason, a complaint can be lodged against him, possibly one of the reasons behind it. There was an increase in reported rape.
However, she believed that the level of brutality in sexual violence crimes had increased in the past few years.
This is one of the worst crimes in the last five years, he said, referring to the 86-year-old rape.
He said strong laws are not enough if proper laws are not enforced – noting that he has received numerous reports of sexual violence from women whenever women have been locked up in the last few months.
“(Crimes of sexual violence) are certainly not declining and the government has nothing to do with deterring perpetrators without ensuring timely punishment.”
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