10-yr-old boy killed, cousin sister raped

Girl's parents fixed her marriage with accused against her wish, say police

A 10-year-old boy was strangled and his teenaged cousin sister allegedly raped by a man who lived with the family at their rented house in north Delhi's Swaroop Nagar on Saturday.

The 17-year-old girl's younger brother was also in the house and escaped unhurt as he was sleeping, police said.

The incident came to the fore when the boy woke up and saw his sister crying. He alerted their landlady as their parents were not at home. The landlady then made a call to the police control room at 7 am. The accused, identified as Raju, is absconding.

“The girl's parents wanted to get their daughter married to Raju, but she was against any such move. Raju had been living with the family since November 2,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West) Vijay Singh.

When a team of police went to the house, they found the girl bleeding and wrapped in a bedsheet. The boy was strangled with another sheet. The girl also had several injury marks on her body due to which she was admitted to Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital.

In her statement, the girl told police that the three of them were sleeping when Raju entered the room in the wee hours of Saturday.

Raju immediately forced himself on the girl on which she raised an alarm.
Her cousin brother woke up on which Raju overpowered and strangled him with the bedsheet.

“The girl’s grandfather had passed away this week due to which her parents were there to perform rituals. The grandparent’s house is three kilometres away from their house. The girl’s cousin had been staying with them at night,” Singh added.

The girl’s parents told police that they had fixed her marriage with Raju, because of which they had asked him to stay with them. Raju also wanted to marry her, but she spurned his advances.

The girl had earlier complained to her parents that Raju had tried to molest her. She had told Raju that she would slap him if he tried to touch her again.

On the basis of the girl’s statement, a case under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered with Swaroop Nagar police station. Raju also faces charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The girl’s father works in a nearby factory, while her mother is an attendant in a private hospital. The girl is a school dropout who is learning embroidery and stitching.