The girl is six years old. Born in 2019, she is a Class 1 student at a government primary school in the Jafrabad area of northeast Delhi.
On the evening of 18 January, she returned home visibly terrified and unable to walk properly. When her mother asked what had happened, the child repeated what the perpetrators had instructed her to say – that she had fallen from a swing.
The mother immediately grew suspicious upon noticing that a neighbouring boy, Saif (name changed, as his parents claim he is a minor), was standing behind the door. She checked her daughter and found that the child was bleeding between the thighs.
“I wrapped her in the same shawl I was wearing, ordered my elder daughter (who is 13 years old) to come with me and ran straight to Jafrabad police station,” the mother said.
At the police station, officers questioned the child sensitively, the mother says. The girl disclosed details of the sexual assault.
The incident occurred around 7 pm. That same night, police apprehended Saif and Sahir. The third accused, Dilshad, the eldest among them, had fled. He was arrested on 2 February from Bihar (names of both the boys have been changed by Rashtra Jyoti, as their parents claim they are minors).
When this correspondent visited the family’s one-room home, the child was lying on the bed alongside her elder sister and her younger brother. By now, she has become accustomed to visits by mediapersons and political leaders because she got up on seeing me and, before I could ask anything, said – “Now I am fine”.
The incident initially appeared only in local newspapers but drew wider attention after Hindu organisations staged a protest last week. The victim is Hindu, while all the accused are from the Muslim community.
The family hails from Rudrapur in Uttarakhand. They belong to the Kashyap caste, categorised among backward communities. They migrated to Delhi three years ago in search of work.
The father, following his family occupation, drives an autorickshaw in Old Delhi. The mother works at a bangles workshop. To manage both work and children, the family rented a single room adjoining the workshop. They live with their four children, the youngest being a three-year-old boy.
The locality has a mixed Hindu-Muslim population. When communal riots erupted here in 2020, the family had not yet moved into the area and remains unaware of what transpired at the time.
Eight months ago, the family suffered another tragedy. Their eldest son, aged 15, died after weeks of stomach pain. One day, he vomited and collapsed. The family never received a clear medical explanation for his death.
Shattered by the loss, the couple decided to move homes and found a room in a nearby lane. They were hesitant because all the houses in that lane – except two – belonged to Muslim families. The landlord assured them that the Muslim residents were about to vacate.
“We never imagined something like this would happen before that,” the father said.
The mother alleges a history of hostility from Saif’s family – her immediate neighbours. “His mother often fought with me. She would shout that despite being Hindus, we talk too much,“: she said.
“My daughter has returned crying many times in recent weeks, saying Saif had hit her. Whenever I complained, his mother would insult me again. So I stopped arguing. Now see what Saif has done to my daughter,” she added.
(You can watch video statements by the girl’s parents on this X/Twitter thread).
Since the assault, the father has not resumed work. Visitors continue to arrive, and he says he feels unsafe leaving his wife and children alone.
The child has not returned to the school either. I learnt that she is the only child of the couple to be attending school. The parents say that they have been too busy restarting their life in Delhi after leaving Uttarakhand to resume education of their older kids.
Note: Sewa Nyaya Utthan Foundation has written to National Human Rights Commission to bring their attention to the crime, and request for adequate rehabilitation, compensation and continued schooling for the survivor. The Foundation has committed full institutional support for the child’s rehabilitation and schooling.
