NEW DELHI: An 11-year-old girl selling roses at a central Delhi traffic signal was raped and left unconscious near a forest area by an e-rickshaw driver, police said on Thursday. The shocking incident took place on January 11 at around 3.30 pm in Prasad Nagar near Karol Bagh.
The girl was at a traffic signal, waiting for it to turn red so that she could sell roses to vehicle users, police said. The accused, identified by cops as 40-year-old Durgesh, stopped his e-rickshaw at the signal after dropping off passengers.
The police said that the accused tricked the child into sitting on the e-rickshaw. “When the child approached him to sell flowers, he lured her with the promise of helping her sell all the roses in one go and made her sit in the vehicle,” said the police.
The accused then took the girl to a nearby forest area, where he raped her, police said. Assuming her to be dead from the assault, he took her back to the same place where he had picked her and fled the spot, leaving her unconscious.
After some time, the girl regained consciousness and managed to reach her family, which then rushed her to a hospital and informed the police.
The police have registered a case under relevant sections of rape, along with the provisions of the POCSO Act.