Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 21: The Delhi government officer in the women and child development department Premoday Khakha, who was accused of raping and impregnating a minor daughter of his friend, and his wife who was accused of covering up the crime, have been arrested, the police said on Monday.
The Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejiwal ordered immediate suspension of the officer and wondered why the Delhi police, which is under the control of the BJP government at the centre, took more than seven days to arrest Khakha when the case against him was filed on August 13.
The BJP, however, sang an entirely different tune and while accusing the Aam Aadmi Party government of Delhi for “hand-picking” Khakha to make a rape-accused an “officer on special duty” to the women and child development minister Atishi and said his suspension was deliberately delayed because he was a “favourite” of the AAP government. Atishi, however, promptly denied that Khakha had ever worked as her OSD.
The BJP Delhi general secretary Bansuri Swaraj also questioned Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal, who sat on a protest on Monday upon not being allowed to meet the minor, who is in hospital, and her mother, and said, “Swati Maliwal ji is responsible for ensuring justice for the minor, why is she sitting on a protest and obstructing the investigation?”
“This is not a political matter. This is a matter that is shameful for the whole society. Bharatiya Janata Party is with the minor and her family in this difficult time,” Swaraj said.
The case against Khakha was filed after the victim girl suffered multiple panic attacks and was rushed to the hospital. The girl revealed the abuse to doctors after being hospitalised for a string of panic attacks, police sources have said.
Khakha is accused of raping the teen, his friend’s daughter, repeatedly over a five-month period from October 2020 to February 2021. The teenager, then 14, became pregnant during this period. Khakha’s wife allegedly gave her abortion pills to terminate the pregnancy at home while keeping the matter under wraps.
Such was the mental toll of what she went through that the teenager suffered a string of panic attacks two years later. Alarmed, her mother rushed her to a hospital. The girl was provided psychological therapy, during which she told doctors about the repeated sexual assault she faced from her father’s friend, someone she called “mama” (uncle).
The doctors alerted police, who registered a child abuse case and start action. “We registered a case on August 13, a week after the girl was hospitalised,” said senior police officer Sagar Singh Kalsi. According to the FIR, Khakha was a friend of the girl’s father, who died in 2020. Following his death, the girl’s mother sent her to Khakha’s Burari home to stay with him and his wife. During her five months there, she faced repeated sexual assault, the FIR says.
Shortly before he was arrested, Khakha was suspended from his post as Assistant Director in the Delhi government’s Women and Child Development Department. Khakha’s suspension was confirmed hours after Kejriwal and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party ripped into Delhi Police – which reports to the union government controlled by the BJP – over the delay in arresting him. The AAP said the ‘failure to arrest the officer is the worst part of this case’ and demanded Khakha be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law.
Delhi minister Atishi has called on police to act “as swiftly as Kejriwal did to suspend Khakha.”…a shocking incident as this accused was an officer in the Women and Child Department… I hope Delhi Police will do the proceedings fast,” she said.
Earlier on Monday police detained Khakha – who faces charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act – and his wife. Both were interrogated. The rapes were revealed this month after the girl narrated her ordeal to a therapist at Delhi’s St Stephen’s Hospital, where she was receiving treatment for panic attacks.
According to police, the girl is not in a condition yet to give a statement before a magistrate. Police, however, are making arrangements to ensure that this is done as soon as she feels better.
Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has said the officer had committed a “heinous act” that has “shaken the society”. “Everyone has daughters, and this is a very shameful act. The officer should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.