A 13-year-old boy has been apprehended in connection with the death of an 11-year-old girl at Arya Anathalaya, an orphanage in Darya Ganj.

 The girl, a class 3, student died on December 24 after she was admitted to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital. She had complained of vomiting before she was admitted. Nobody had suspected foul play when she died. But the post-mortem report from Maulana Azad Medical College said that she had been subjected to repeated sexual abuse.

A case was filed with Jama Masjid police station under Sections 376 (rape) and 377 (unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code on January 20.

“We arrested the minor boy in connection with the case on Thursday. He lives in the orphanage. He will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board for further course of action,” a senior police official told Deccan Herald.

The official said they will also arrest some workers of the orphanage over allegations that they were sexually exploiting boys and girls.

The girl was admitted to the orphanage in July 2009 by her mother Pooja, who lives in Rohini Sector 4 and works as a domestic help. 

She also admitted the girl’s younger sister to the orphanage.

Pooja was unable to look after her daughters as she was financially weak and had separated from her husband, Manoj Kumar.

The girl was studying at Kanya Sadan, a government school on the premises of the orphanage.

On December 24 morning, she was taken to LNJP Hospital at 10.30 am as she was vomiting. Doctors at the hospital examined her and gave medicines, after which she was taken back to the orphanage and kept at the clinic there. But her condition deteriorated and she was again taken to hospital on the same day. She died at 5 pm.

According to a report by ‘HAQ: Centre for Child Rights’, she had been ill for some time before she died.

“The victim, Poonam, told a close friend that she did not want to stay at the orphanage. She said some class 5 boys used to bother her,” the medical report mentioned.One of Poonam’s friends told police that a security guard of the orphanage also used to harass the girl.

“One day we saw Poonam had a blue mark on her shoulders because the guard had pressed her hard,” the report said.

The name of the girl has been changed.