Ashreya staff under scanner too

The police said they were waiting for the girl’s medical reports to establish the facts,because the victim was not able to properly understand their questions and answer them.

Senior Superintendent of Police S S Srivastava said: “We are investigating the case from three to four angles. She is nine weeks pregnant. She was moved to Ashreya from Nari Niketan around two and a half months ago. There is a possibility that someone other than the accused might have raped her. We expect her medical reports to throw light on the matter.” Deputy Superintendent of Police (East) P K Dhawan said the samples of the foetus were yet to be collected for a DNA test. “Once the samples are taken,the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory will be urged to submit the report as soon as possible,” he added.

Officers said they were not sure yet if it was Bhupinder Singh,the arrested sweeper,who had raped the girl. “A team of women officers went to GMCH-32 to question the victim. They found it difficult to decipher what the girl said about the culprit. She took three names that sounded like Bhupinder. When we brought the suspect in front of her,she raised her finger and we booked him,” said an officer. The SSP said they were not sure why did the girl pointed her finger towards Bhupinder. The accused has denied the allegations of rape. The UT Administration has sought permission for termination of the victim’s pregnancy on medical grounds. Both the homes have no information about the victim’s family.

The Nari Niketan had sent as many as 12 mentally challenged girls,along with the victim,to Ashreya earlier this year. The staff at Ashreya said their condition was not good when the girls came to the home. Some of them had skin diseases,their clothes were tattered and most of them suffered from low self esteem,they said,adding that the condition of the mentally challenged girls had worsened because of the way they had been kept.

The staff said it was after the victim complained of abdominal pain and victim was taken to hospital that it was established that she had been raped.

Pragati,a social worker who looks after the inmates at Ashreya,said: “After we got to know of her condition,we talked to her and she narrated the incident in bits and pieces. Her IQ is very low. But this is also due to the fact that she has had little exposure. At Ashreya,she had started to learn to write her name in English and Hindi.”

The victim is not capable of taking care of herself,according to doctors. Security at Ashreya is,meanwhile,being upgraded. Work started on Wednesday to raise the height of its boundary wall,which will be fitted with barbed wires. The entry has been restricted too.

— With inputs from Khushboo Sandhu