On Tuesday, the Delhi Police arrested a Muslim person named Mohammed Azhar for sexually assaulting a minor girl. The accused person is said to be the driver of a school van and he has been charged u/s 376 of IPC and section 6 of the POCSO Act for assaulting a 6-year-old school-going girl.
The information was revealed by DCP South East Rajesh Deo to the ANI news agency. The DCP confirmed the identity of the accused and said that the case has been registered at Shaheen Bagh Police Station in Delhi.
Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code deals with the rape of a woman and attracts jail of not less than ten years, which also may extend to imprisonment for life. The accused charged under the IPC is also liable to a fine in such cases. However, section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 deals with aggravated penetrative sexual assault. The law attracts rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life.
This is not the first case of sexual assault reported from Delhi. On April 24, a 58-year-old man identified as Mohd Taqi Ahmed was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl in his house in east Delhi’s Ghazipur.
According to the reports, on April 21, Ahmed reportedly approached the girl, a Class 6 student at a government school, while she was coming from her aunt’s house and pulled her to his residence where he allegedly undressed her and brutally molested her.
Also, last year in September, an underage boy was gang raped by his cousin and three of his friends in the Seelampur area of northeast Delhi. As reported earlier, the victim was just 12 years old. He was beaten with rods, and sticks and a rod was inserted in his private parts. The incident had come to light only after the authorities at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital informed the police that on September 22, a minor boy was admitted for physical assault.
A case then had been lodged under Sections 34 and 377 (unnatural sex) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Child Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The police had also nabbed two of the accused.
In the current case, the accused identified as Mohammed Azhar has been arrested for sexually assaulting a minor girl. Further investigations in the case are underway.