On Thursday, October 5, the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi government to protect the 17-year-old girl who was raped repeatedly by dismissed Delhi official Premoday Khakha between 2020 and 2021 at his home. The court ordered the government to safeguard the girl’s and her mother’s safety.
The High Court also gave the government three weeks to create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be used in cases involving children.
In August, Khakha was arrested on accusations of raping and impregnating a minor girl. A case under the POCSO Act was registered at Burari Police Station of North District. The accused was a Deputy Director of the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department of the Delhi government.
Background of the case: Deputy Director posted at Delhi’s WCD raped minor victim, wife gave victim abortion pill
The case dates back to August this year when Delhi Police arrested a senior Delhi government officer named Premoday Khakha (51) for raping a minor girl for over three months in Delhi’s Burari region. The police also arrested Seema Rani, the wife of Khakha who served the minor girl with pills to curb unwanted pregnancy. The accused is a Christian and shares ties with the family of the victim girl.
The 17-year-old minor girl complained against Khakha and his wife Seema Rani that the two assaulted her for three months during her stay at their place between October 2020 and April 2021. The victim girl said that Khakha who served as deputy director in Delhi’s women and child department (WCD) raped her multiple times and his wife forced her to have abortion pills.
As reported earlier, following the death of the father of the girl in October 2022, Khakha, whom the girl referred to as “mama” brought the child to his Burari residence. The victim’s mother, who had known the family for many years, thought her daughter would grow stronger under Khakha’s supervision, and spending time in their house would help her get over the loss.
However, the minor girl was repeatedly raped by Khakha. While this happened, the wife of the accused blamed the girl for allegedly sending wrong signals to the man which led to the assault. It was also reported that his children knew about the repeated rape incidents and helped accused Seema Rani in hiding the victim’s pregnancy. It was also suspected that the son of the accused also raped the victim girl.
Several media reports mention that the girl was fed drugs when she was raped for the first time in October 2020. The investigating officers confirmed that Khakha’s entire family including his kids knew about the criminal acts of Khakha. Seema Rani, in fact, had asked his son to get abortion medicines for the victim after the girl informed her that she had missed her periods.
The entire incident came to the fore after the young girl began to experience anxiety attacks, which had a severe influence on her academic performance. In response, her mother sought assistance from a city hospital in August, where the girl obtained counselling. During multiple counselling sessions, she revealed charges of sexual assault against Khakha and several other people.
Who is Premoday Khakha
Khakha worked as a Deputy Director in the AAP-led government’s Women and Child Development (WCD) Department. Citing sources, journalist Pallavi Ghosh informed that the rape accused served as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the WCD Minister.
An order [pdf] of the Delhi government, dated June 16, 2022, also mentioned Premodaya Khakha as an OSD to the Minister of Women and Child Development. Incumbent AAP Minister Atishi Marlena has cried foul over the matter and dismissed allegations of working with the rape accused.
Interestingly, the LinkedIn profile of Khakha also highlights his role as the OSD to the Government of Delhi since March 2022. It must be mentioned that controversial AAP leader Rajendra Pal Gautam was the WCD Minister at that time.