A 14-year-old girl who worked as a domestic help in South Delhi’s Greater Kailash 1 area was allegedly raped by a 17-year-old boy and three others, the police said on Sunday, adding all four suspects have been taken into custody.
According to the police, the girl had met the teenage boy at the place where she worked. The boy, who had befriended her before quitting the job around a month ago asked her to visit his new place of work, also in Greater Kailash, where three others were present on Saturday.
The boy then raped her in the servant quarters of the house, the girl said, with the help of the others – an 18-year-old, a 20-year-old and a 30-year-old.
The police said they received the call about the incident on Sunday and have apprehended all four accused. They have filed a case and are investigating the incident.
The Delhi Police in October said it had registered a 28 per cent fall in the number of rape cases this year. As many as 1,241 rape cases were reported till September 30 compared to 1,723 cases in the same period last year, it said.
India recorded an average 87 rape cases every day in 2019 and more than 4 lakh cases of crimes against women during the year – a rise of over 7 per cent from 2018 – according to the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau.
Rights groups say the government statistics understate the number of rapes as it is still considered a taboo to report rape in some parts of India and because rapes that end in murder are counted purely as murders. Crimes against women are often taken less seriously, and investigated by police lacking in sensitivity, they say.
The fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old medical student in 2012 on a moving bus in the city had triggered protests across the country and the capital forcing the government to introduce stronger laws to tackle crimes against women.
