BackDelhi rape: Police chief rejects demands for his resignation, protests continue
Neeraj Kumar promises exemplary action against policemen found lax in handling the rape case
Premium(PTI)
New Delhi: Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar on Monday ruled out his resignation in the wake of alleged police insensitivity in dealing with the child rape case but promised exemplary action against policemen found lax in handling it.
“If my resignation will prevent such depraved action of the society, then I am ready to resign a thousand times. But that is not going to address the problem," he said at a press conference, the first media interaction after the case of a five-year-old child being raped and brutally assaulted by a neighbour in East Delhi came to light four days ago.
“But that is not going to solve the problem. The problem is one of mental depravity, one of psychopathy, the problem is one of mental sickness and that is not going to be sorted out by anyone resigning," he said.
Kumar said police personnel who allegedly offered Rs2,000 to parents of the child to hush up the case are yet to be identified. He admitted that the police personnel did not act the way they should have done.
Meanwhile, the second suspect in the brutal rape of a five-year-old girl was arrested from Bihar early on Monday even as protests continued, while police barricaded streets near Parliament to prevent December-like anti-rape protests.
Investigators tracked down the second suspect Pradeep, who was named by first accused Manoj Kumar, from his maternal uncle’s home in Barahiya village in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district late Sunday night.
A Delhi Police team with the help of Bihar Police Special Task Force arrested Pradeep from his uncle’s residence, where he was hiding, Bihar director general of Police Abhayanand said. “He will be brought to the national capital on Monday after getting a transit remand from Darbhanga court," Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar told PTI.
Meanwhile, three Metro stations—Race Course Road, Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhavan—near Parliament, India Gate and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence were closed anticipating protests. However, they were reopened in the evening.
The issue figured in the Lok Sabha with home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde assuring agitating members that an inquiry has been ordered into alleged police lapses.
Protests were witnessed at Parliament Gate, police headquarters and Jantar Mantar for the removal of police commissioner Neeraj Kumar. However, the numbers were not as large as the December anti-rape protests.
Anticipating protests, police took extra measures such as barricading and checking of vehicles which resulted in traffic chaos near Parliament and arterial roads leading to India Gate. The measures came against the backdrop of re-convening of the Budget session of Parliament on Monday and the protests in December last against the gang-rape of a girl in a moving bus in south Delhi.
Police closed Red Cross Road, Rafi Marg, Raisina Road and some crossings on Rajpath. There was trouble for vehicular movement near India Gate also as barricades were erected on Mansingh Road. Caught unawares, many commuters coming from south Delhi had to take long winding routes to reach Connaught Place and nearby localities.
A handful of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) activists restarted their protest this morning outside the Police Headquarters near the busy ITO which was barricaded. A large number of police personnel also were deployed at the headquarters.
The rape accused, Manoj, who was arrested on Saturday from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, had told police during interrogation that one of his friends was also involved in the crime. The girl was raped on 15 April in a building in east Delhi’s Gandhinagar locality where the victim and accused Manoj lived. She was rescued 40 hours later on 17 April.
Police sources said Manoj told his interrogators that on 15 April, his friend Pradeep had come to his house and they had consumed alcohol. Manoj said that Pradeep insisted a girl be brought to the house. He went out and lured the five-year-old girl with a chocolate, sources said, adding Manoj claimed that he did not sexually assault the girl.
He had also claimed that they fled from the house after strangulating her to avoid being identified later and thought that she was dead, they said. The girl is currently undergoing treatment at AIIMS and doctors said her condition is stable. Her condition is gradually improving and she is expected to be discharged after two weeks, they said. She has started taking liquids and semi-solid food and her wounds have started to heal, AIIMS Medical Superintendent D.K. Sharma told reporters.
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