Delhi shocker: 8-year-old girl raped by minor brother, victim in serious condition

As rape of minors continues unabated, the latest incident of sexual assault against a girl has been reported from Delhi.

New Delhi, July 5: As rape of minors continues unabated, the latest incident of sexual assault against a girl has been reported from Delhi.

According to report, an eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her elder brother, who is also a minor, in Delhi's Adarsh Nagar. The police received information from a local hospital on Monday that a girl, who was bleeding profusely from her private parts, had been brought in, a senior officer told reporters on Wednesday.

The girl told a counsellor that her elder brother forced himself on her while their parents were away, the officer added. The parents returned home in the evening to find the girl bleeding and rushed her to a hospital, he said, adding that the boy has been detained.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal visited the victim on Wednesday. "She sustained severe injuries and had to undergo a major operation. Currently, she is in a serious condition," the DCW said in a statement. "The girl's parents are daily wage labourers and are very poor," it added.

The commission said it would support the girl's treatment and file a case to seek compensation for her. "Crimes against women and girls are on a rise in the country and concerted steps have to be taken by governments against them," Maliwal said.

"The commission shall be assisting the survivor in all ways possible to recover from the trauma," Maliwal added.

According to Delhi Police data, more than two child rape cases are reported in the national capital every day. Till April 30, 282 cases of child rape were reported compared to 278 last year during the same period. Last year, a total of 894 cases of child rape were reported, data showed.

In the last few months, the nation has witnessed alarming rise in the number of cases of rapes, especially of minor girls. Angry citizens of the country protested on roads in various parts of the country over the horrific rape cases reported from Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua and Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in April. Both the cases caught the attention of the nation because of its barbarity and open support for the accused from a section of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

After its "studied silence" over crimes against women, especially minor girls, the Narendra Modi government approved the ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping girls under 12 in April.