Angry crowd beat up Delhi rape accused outside police station

A driver, accused of raping a young girl and sodomising her two brothers for about one-and-half year, was today beaten up by a group of people outside a police station in New Delhi.

Lalit Ratwal, 32, was arrested yesterday following a complaint filed by the victims at Prasad Nagar police station.

They said that the driver, who ferried them from their residence in central Delhi's Prasad Nagar to two prominent schools in a private cab, used to take them to a house of his friend and sexually assault them after drugging.

An angry crowd gathered at the police station today and when Ratwal was brought out, they beat him up and damaged the cab in which he used to take the children to schools, a senior police officer said.

The victims' mother said she wanted the accused to get the deserved punishment for such acts.

Reacting to the case of rape and sodomy, chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Shanta Sinha said the incident was "appalling and outrageous".

"The government is considering a law on offences against sexual abuse and hopefully it would take care of the issues that are specific to children," she said.

The 12-year-old girl, a class VII student, was also raped allegedly by the driver's three friends, who are minors. Her brothers who were sodomised were studying in Class III and Class V.

Ratwal allegedly used to drug them and then sexually assault them. He also allegedly made MMS clips of the sexual assault and threatened them to kill their mother if they disclosed it to anyone.

"He has also named four minors who have sexually exploited the victims. We are on their look out," the officer said.

"He threatened to kill their mother if they disclosed the harassment. The children were so scared that they did not inform anyone. But around 25 days ago, the girl told her mother about it," the officer said.

The mother also did not muster courage to approach police. "She did not send her children to school after she came to know about the incident. When she encountered the driver, he threatened to kill her," the officer said.

The incident came to light when one of her tenants came to know about the matter and informed a local politician who is his friend and neighbour.

The politician took the children to the police after which a medical examination was conducted which confirmed the sexual assault.

The victims' father had died sometime ago and the family's only income was the money they receive from five-six rooms they have rented out. The children got admission to two prominent schools as they were from economically backward quota.