A 10-year-old Delhi boy who was last month sexually assaulted and brutalised by three friends, including a cousin, died this morning while in treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Delhi government's Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP). All the children involved are between 10 and 12 years of age, from the same community, and residents of northeast Delhi's New Seelampur area.
According to some reports, doctors reportedly said the boy's wounds were so gruesome that they were reminded of the December 16, 2012 gang rape.
The Seelampur police station had on September 22 received a call from LNJP Hospital that a boy aged about 10 years was admitted on account of physical assault that happened three days back. A police team reached the hospital and met with the parents of the child, but they refused to give a statement, cops said. The child was then under medical observation.
The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had also issued a notice to the police in this connection and demanded strict action against the accused. The DCW said it received a complaint from a woman who said her son was sexually assaulted by people who even inserted a rod in his private parts.
Doctors say the family not bringing the boy to the hospital for four days worsened his condition.
The family did not give a statement till September 24. After counselling arranged by the police, the boy's mother eventually disclosed that her son was physically assaulted and sodomised by his three friends over a debt that the family was having trouble paying back on time.
Based on her statement, a case was registered under section 377 (Unnatural offences) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and Protection Of Children Sexual Offences Act.
The woman claimed that the accused had also beaten up her son with bricks and rods.
Two of the children who assaulted the victim, including the cousin, have been caught and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, while cops are still trying to find the third child.
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