Delhi bureaucrat arrested for rape of minor, suspended by Kejriwal govt

A 51-year-old deputy director in the woman and child development department of the Delhi government and his wife were arrested on Monday in connection with the rape of minor girl, the police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said the police have arrested the bureaucrat and his 50-year-old wife both in connection with the incident.

"The accused have been identified as Premoday Khakha and his wife Seema Rani, residents of Shakti Enclave in Burari area. Seema is a housewife. The case was registered on August 13," Kalsi said.

Premoday Khakha has been accused of raping a minor girl several times between November 2020 and January 2021, a senior police officer had earlier said. Khakha's wife also allegedly gave the girl medicine to terminate her pregnancy.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has ordered the suspension of the officer.

The girl was staying with the accused and his family at their house after her father passed away on October 1, 2020.

Responding to the allegation against its official, the Delhi government said "the sternest possible action should be taken against him" if found guilty.

The statement of the minor is also being recorded.

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) sent a notice to the Delhi police on Monday, seeking the arrest of the official.

"It is a sensitive matter and we are investigating it with utmost sincerity. Recording of the statement of the victim under CrPC 164 with the magistrate is underway," DCP Kalsi said.

A police team on Monday visited the house of the accused in Burari.

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal alleged that she was prevented from meeting the minor at the hospital where she is admitted.

The girl was staying with the accused, a family friend whom she calls 'mama', and his family at their house after her father passed away on October 1, 2020.

When the minor allegedly became pregnant, she informed the wife of the accused who later asked her son to get medicines for pregnancy termination and gave them to the girl.

The girl returned home with her mother in January 2021 when she came to meet her. She had an anxiety attack in August this year and her mother admitted her to a hospital, where the girl, who is now in Class 12, narrated the whole incident during the counselling session.

Maliwal posted on X that she has issued a notice to the police as the accused had not been arrested yet.

"If the one whose job was to protect the daughters turns into a predator, then where will the girls go! He must be arrested soon," she said.

The police said the case was registered under provisions of the POCSO Act and Indian Penal Code sections 376(2)(f) (being a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman, commits rape on such woman) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman).

IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman's consent) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) have also been invoked.

"He (the accused) is a deputy director in the WCD department. Since an FIR has been lodged in the alleged matter, the law should take its course.

"The Delhi government is sensitive in regard to such serious matters of women's safety and child abuse. If he has committed any such reprehensible act, the sternest possible action should be taken against him," the government said in a statement.