10-year-old boy raped, assaulted by friends in Delhi; dies in hospital

PTI

New Delhi, October 1

A 10-year-old boy, who was assaulted and allegedly raped by three of his friends in northeast Delhi’s New Seelampur area, died at a hospital here on Saturday where he was admitted for over a week, police said.

A senior police officer said that the boy had died Saturday morning at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital where he was undergoing treatment.

The boy was raped and hit by a few other boys with a rod on his leg which developed into an infection and spread in his body, the officer said.

However, the inputs from hospital authorities were awaited.

In a Hindi tweet, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal confirmed the boy’s death. She said he suffered a lot and demanded stringent punishment for the accused.

The boy’s mother said her son had initially lied to her that he was injured while playing, and had only told her about what had happened to him after much insistence.

“I work as a domestic help and was out for work when (September 18) the incident happened. When I returned home, I saw that my son had an injury in his leg. He told me that he had gotten it while playing. I could have never imagined that something like this would have happened to him.

“He was in pain and when I prodded him, he just said that they will kill me. When I asked him again, he told me that two to three boys raped him and beat him up with an iron rod,” she said.

The boy’s uncle said that the boy was cremated only after the family was assured of a speedy justice by the police.

“We want justice for our son and had earlier refused to do his cremation. But when police assured us of a speedy trial, we cremated the body in the evening,” the uncle said.

Earlier, the DCW had issued a notice to the city police in the matter.

In the notice, the DCW had said it had received a complaint from a woman who said her son was raped by some people who even inserted an iron rod into his private parts.

The police, however, had said the probe so far has not revealed that a rod was inserted in the private parts of the victim, but a medical examination will ascertain it.

The police had earlier apprehended two of the accused and produced them before the Juvenile Justice Board. The third boy is yet to be apprehended.

The victim and the accused are neighbours and belong to the same age group and community, police had earlier said.

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