HC grants 3 weeks to Delhi govt to form SOP for child victims’ cases

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) In the suo motu case of alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl by a suspended Delhi government official, the Delhi High Court on Thursday granted three weeks to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government to come with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be followed in cases involving minors.

On September 14, the court had sought various authorities’ suggestions on the preparation of the SOP.

The high court had, on August 28, taken suo motu cognisance of the case involving suspended Delhi government official Premoday Khakha and his wife, who reportedly gave the victim medicine to terminate her pregnancy.

During the hearing on Thursday, a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula was apprised by the counsel for the Department of Women and Child Welfare of the Delhi government that the process of consultation with other stakeholders was going on.

The court had earlier asked several authorities – Child Welfare Committee (CWC), National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), Delhi government’s Department of Women and Child Development, Delhi Police and Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) – to participate in the meeting for drafting the SOP.

The counsel requested for three weeks' time to hear everyone and finalise it. The court then granted the same and posted the matter for next hearing on November 10.

The police was asked to provide the minor victim an escort whenever she comes to court to attend the proceedings.

On August 21, the Delhi Police had arrested 51-year-old Khakha, who has been suspended as deputy director in the Women and Child Development department of Delhi government, and his wife after questioning them for several hours at their residence.

The move came after the victim recorded her statement before a magistrate at a city hospital.

The couple is a resident of Shakti Enclave in the Burari area. The accused allegedly raped the victim repeatedly between 2020 and 2021. A police source said the accused kept on raping the minor daughter of his friend for months, during which his wife also allegedly assisted him.

"The most shocking part is that when the victim got pregnant, she was threatened with dire consequences by the accused. When the accused narrated the matter to his wife, instead of helping the victim, the woman sent her son to buy abortion pills, which she gave to the victim," the source said.