NEW DELHI, Aug 22: DCW chief Swati Maliwal on Tuesday requested union home minister Amit Shah
to direct the Delhi Police to allow her meeting with the minor girl allegedly raped by a senior Delhi
government official.
In a letter to Shah, she also urged the home minister to order an inquiry into the delay in arresting
the accused and to shift the girl to AIIMS for better treatment.
Premoday Khakha — a deputy director in the city government’s women and child development
department — allegedly raped the girl several times between November 2020 and January 2021,
according to the Delhi Police. His wife allegedly gave the girl medicine to terminate her pregnancy.
Khakha and his wife Seema Rani were arrested on Monday.
Maliwal, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson, said that while the police and the
hospital authorities prevented her from meeting the girl and her mother, they allowed the National
Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson to interact with the mother.
“It is extremely unfortunate that even though I waited for over 24 hours outside the hospital and
even slept there, the Delhi Police and the hospital authorities disallowed my meeting with the
survivor or her family. Despite my repeated requests, I was not allowed to meet with the survivor or
her family, which is an illegal act, both by the Delhi Police and the private hospital (sic),” the letter
read.
Maliwal on Monday began a dharna at the hospital, claiming she was not allowed to meet with the
girl. She alleged that the police and the hospital authorities “misused their power” to stall the
commission’s functioning.
She urged Shah to direct the Delhi Police to allow her meeting with “the girl or her mother so that
the commission can assist them” and that an inquiry be ordered to ascertain why the Delhi Police
delayed the accused’s arrest.
Maliwal also demanded that the survivor be urgently shifted to AIIMS for better treatment and care.
“In case the survivor and her family do not want to be shifted to AIIMS, a team of doctors from
AIIMS should be sent to examine the survivor and oversee her treatment,” the DCW chief wrote.
Maliwal, who began her dharna on Monday morning, left the hospital on Tuesday afternoon after
failing to meet the survivor.
A police official said the girl’s mother did not want to meet anyone since her daughter is still under
observation.
In a post on X, Maliwal said in Hindi, “Had I not come to meet the girl, they would have said that I
didn’t bother to see her. Now, when I am here, they are saying it’s a drama. Politics has fallen to
such levels that politicians cannot speak the truth.”
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday ordered the chief secretary to suspend the accused
officer.
According to the order, during the suspension period, the officer is not permitted to leave the
department headquarters without obtaining prior permission.
Deputy commissioner of police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said Rani was produced before a court on
Monday and sent to judicial custody while Khakha will be produced in the court on Tuesday. (PTI)
