Sexual assault on minor: Delhi Govt official, wife sent to 14-day judicial custody

New Delhi [India]: The special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) judge of Tis Hazari Court on Wednesday sent suspended Delhi government official, Premoday Khakha, and his wife, Seema Rani, to 14 days of judicial custody till September 6, in connection with the rape of a minor girl.

It was alleged that the government official sexually assaulted the minor over several months, resulting in her becoming pregnant.

Earlier, on Monday, Delhi Police arrested the government official and his wife for the alleged sexual assault on the minor.

According to the police, following the death of her father, who was also a Delhi government employee, the minor girl lived with the accused in Burari from October 2020 to February 2021.

Taking serious note of the allegations, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday suspended the accused official, pending investigation.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule (1) of Rule 10 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, Premoday Khakha, Assistant Director is hereby placed under suspension with immediate effect,” read an official order issued by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to this effect.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi on Monday said that further investigation is underway in the matter.

Meanwhile, the chairperson for the Delhi Commission for Women, Swati Maliwal, on Wednesday sent a notice to Delhi Police seeking details of the accused.

She also sought to know whether all the accused named by the complainant have been arrested and what steps were taken by Delhi Police to record the statement of the survivor under 164 CrPC.

She also sought a detailed action taken report in the matter.

“The Commission has also been informed that till now the statement of survivor under 164 CrPC has not been recorded. The girl is presently admitted in a government hospital in a very serious condition,” read the notice sent by DCW to Delhi police.

Maliwal sat on a dharna at the hospital where the minor is admitted, alleging that she was not allowed to meet her.

Accusing Delhi Police of ‘hooliganism’, the Delhi women’s panel chief said questioned why she wasn’t being allowed to meet the minor or her kin when the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson had met her mother.