Sonia, Kejriwal, Lekhi meet minor rape victim at AIIMS

After Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday joined the list of politicians who made a beeline for AIIMS to meet the 13-year-old mentally challenged girl who is undergoing treatment after she was brutally raped and dumped near a railway track last week.

Later in the day, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi and former chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women and Delhi Congress women’s wing president Barkha Shukla Singh also visited the girl.

Mr Kejriwal met the victim in the morning and raised the issue of granting full statehood to Delhi in order to curb such incidents which “occur repeatedly.” The chief minister said he has sought time to meet Union home minister Rajnath Singh to discuss how such incidents could be stopped by working together in the existing system.

According to sources, Mrs Gandhi reached the hospital at around noon and met the victim.

The chief minister also assured all possible help to the girl’s relatives. “Delhi is not a full state as a result of which such problems are coming up repeatedly. Every crime incident reminds that somehow law and order should be under democratic control so that the law enforcement agencies and public could work together,” Mr Kejriwal said.

“I have sought an appointment to meet Rajnath Singh. Full statehood will take time but even in the existing system we can function together so that such incidents could be stopped. If there is greater democratic control over the agencies at local level and public is taken along, a solution could be found for this,” he said.

The girl was brutally raped and dumped near a railway track in southeast Delhi’s Pul Prahladpur area allegedly by a teenager who lives in her neighbourhood. The victim, who is an orphan, was admitted to AIIMS and her condition is stated to be stable.

In the early hours of May 18, locals spotted the girl lying unconscious near the railway track and raised an alarm. The accused was apprehended on Wednesday.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal had met the girl on Wednesday and also issued a notice to the Pul Prahladpur police station seeking to know why it was not informed about the incident.

Meanwhile, AIIMS said the girl’s condition is stable at the moment and she may need a third surgery. “The patient is under treatment of paediatric surgery department. Patient is stable at the moment, but kept in close observation. She underwent two minor surgeries in past one week and might be required another corrective surgery later on,” a statement from AIIMS said.