Delhi rape victim's parents take 5 lakh bribe, compel her to change statement
New Delhi : A 15-year-old girl in Delhi approached the police with Rs 5 lakh, the amount that her parents have received to force her to change her statement in gang rape case trial. The surprising fact was that the victim decided to trust the police over her parents.
Aware that her parents had been allegedly bribed in order to compel her to change her statement in court in a gang rape case, a 15-year-old victim approached the police with Rs 5 lakh they had accepted as advance, police said.
“The girl came with a wad of notes and said it was Rs 3 lakh. But when we counted, it was Rs 4.96 lakh,” MN Tiwari, deputy commissioner of police (outer), said.
The police commissioner mentioned that the girl’s parents have been arrested under the Juvenile Justice Act and for criminal intimidation, threatening someone to give false evidence and criminal conspiracy.
“We arrested the girl’s mother. Her father is on the run. We are also looking for the people who were facilitating this crime,” the DCP said.
Sources confirmed that the girl lives with her parents in Prem Nagar, Aman Vihar, Delhi. Her parents own a small business in the close vicinity.
The girl had gone missing on August 30 last year after which a kidnapping case was registered at the Aman Vihar police station, the DCP said.
A week later, she returned home and told that two men, including a local property dealer, had kidnapped her.
She said she was purportedly taken to multiple places such as Noida and Ghaziabad where she was repeatedly gang raped. On her complaint, the police registered a case of gang rape and arrested the two accused men. However, the accused are released on bail.
“Some people known to the accused had approached her parents and offered Rs 20 lakh to get the girl change her statement in court. Recently, they had given Rs 5 lakh cash as advance payment. The girl was aware of it,” said an investigator.
It has been reported that the parents of the rape victim had allegedly been pressuring the girl to change her statement before the police. Bu, she refused to and had frequent quarrels with her parents.
“On April 10, her parents were away in court when the girl decided to report the matter to the police. She knew that the money was hidden under the bed. She picked up the cash and without counting it, reached the Prem Vihar police chowki,” said the officer.
For now, the girl has been handed over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which sent her to a children’s home.