86-year-old grandmother raped in Delhi

New Delhi: An 86-year-old grandmother was allegedly raped by a man in a secluded area in south west Delhi’s Chhawla region, police said on Tuesday. The accused Sonu (37), a plumber, is a resident of Rewla Khanpur. He has been arrested in connection with the incident, they said.

“The woman was waiting outside her home on Monday evening for the milkman when she was approached by her attacker,” Swati Maliwal, head of the Delhi Commission for Women, told the BBC.

“He told her that her regular milk delivery man wasn’t coming and offered to take her to the place where she could get milk. The octogenarian trustingly accompanied him,” said Ms Maliwal, adding that he took her to a nearby isolated field where he raped her.

“The woman kept crying and pleading that she was of his grandmother’s age. The perpetrator assaulted her brutally when she tried to resist him and raped her,” the women rights panel said.

“Her hands are totally wrinkled. You get a shock when you hear what she went through. There are bruises on her face and all over her body and she told me that she had vaginal bleeding. She is suffering from extreme trauma,” Ms Maliwal said.

Local villagers rushed to the spot on hearing the woman’s cries. They caught hold of the perpetrator and called the police, it said. The woman was bleeding and in extreme trauma. The locals called her son and the police later took her for medical examination, the DCW said. Her medical examination report reveals several injuries and bruises on her body, it said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Santosh Kumar Meena said, “A case under section 376 (rape) of IPC was registered and the accused was arrested.” The medical examination of the victim was conducted and her statement has been recorded, he said. The woman is stated to be stable now, police said, adding she was discharged from hospital on Tuesday.

“From a six-month-old girl to a 90-year-old woman, no one is safe in Delhi. The kind of trauma this woman had to face clearly indicates that the perpetrators of these crimes are not humans. I met the woman today, she is an extremely courageous woman. We will ensure she gets justice. This case needs to be fast tracked and justice should be served within six months,” Maliwal said.

“I’m writing to the chief justice of Delhi High Court and the lieutenant-governor of the city to fast-track the case and hang him in six months,” she said.