Rape of 10-year-old in Ghaziabad madrasa shakes the capital
Protesters shouted slogans and blocked traffic on the NH-24 in Delhi's Ghazipur yesterday, demanding action against a cleric for allegedly raping a 10-year-old in a Ghaziabad madrasa. A boy, purportedly a juvenile, abducted her and held her captive for a day before she was rescued. He was arrested yesterday. Police are conducting ossification test to establish his age. Cops are questioning the cleric too.
According to the girl's parents, the girl went missing after she left home for the market on Saturday. When they informed police, cops scanned CCTV footage and saw the boy, whom the child knew from before, leading her away. They tracked her call detail records and on Sunday, traced her to the madrasa where he studied. Her medical examination confirmed rape, police said.
The child's parents have alleged the cleric was involved and she was gang-raped. "The police are trying to hush up the matter by merely apprehending one minor boy. There is a larger conspiracy involved," her uncle said, adding "at least three-four men" were involved. Residents of the Ghaziabad area where the madrasa is located held a candlelight march on Tuesday, demanding "closure of the madrasa."
Yesterday, BJP MP Maheish Girri led a candlelight march from Central Secretariat to India Gate, demanding arrest of the culprits. MP Manoj Tiwari was also present. Girri claimed the cleric was the mastermind, which he was told by the girl's family. Interestingly, he admitted he hadn't talked to the girl, who has named only the purported juvenile in his statement.
The case has since been shifted from the east district police to the crime branch "owing to inter-state ramifications of the case and for thorough in-depth investigations," said JCP Ravindra Yadav. Officers say the cleric hasn't been given a clean chit yet. The boy, meanwhile, has been sent to a juvenile home. "We are examining all allegations," assured Delhi Police Spokesperson Dependra Pathak.
This incident comes amid an alarming spike in reports of such crimes. A 9-year-old in Surat, a 7-year-old in Etah, a 10-year-old in Chhattisgarh, a 13-year-old in Bihar, a 13-year-old and a 9-year-old in Muzaffarnagar, a 6-year-old in Cuttack and a 9-year-old in Chennai are a few of the children brutalized in the last two weeks. Public-anger in the Kathua case still isn't over.
