A French schoolgirl visiting India on an exchange programme has alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the father of the student hosting her in Delhi, on October 18. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed a week later, based on the 16-year-old's complaint.
A case under the stringent child sexual offences act has also been filed against the accused. "He has been absconding since the complaint was filed on October 23," news agency PTI quoted senior police officer Devesh Srivastava.
The French teenager has said in her statement that her host's father, 55, sexually assaulted her when she was alone in the room she was put up in at the family's apartment in Saket in south Delhi.
"...While I was packing my bags for Jaipur, her father came to the room and was giving me general advice... I was sitting on the bed and packing...and he was standing in front and staring at me...he came closer to me and hugged me and said 'Don't worry, it's going to be okay'...I didn't understand what he meant...he strongly tried to touch my breast...he hugged me again...in an uncomfortable manner...and it was painful...he took my hand forcefully to bring it between his legs...I was completely under trauma and shocked," the girl alleges in her complaint.
The girl broke down and told her friends in the bus on the way to Jaipur that she had been assaulted the night before. When she started crying, her friends told the teachers, who in turn contacted her parents and the French embassy. The student was immediately attached to another family for the rest of her trip.
The school involved in the exchange programme is yet to comment on the incident. The French student's host had visited France in June on a similar programme and had stayed with her. On October 13, when she arrived in Delhi, she was assigned the same student's family.
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