Five-yr-old East Delhi rape victim,father to testify on August 1

She told the court that she found her daughter “naked,crying and bleeding” on the bed in Manoj’s house. The police were informed and reached the spot two hours later,she said.

During cross-examination,she told the court that she found wounds on the neck of her daughter. Her testimony fits into the prosecution’s allegations that the accused had tried to kill the girl by strangulation.

Her mother identified Manoj in the court and said he was their neighbour and had raped her daughter. She also told the court that she had not seen co-accused Pradeep before.

When R S Juneja,counsel representing the accused,suggested that Manoj had gone to his village during the time the girl was allegedly raped,the mother vehemently denied his claim and insisted that Manoj had committed the crime.

The girl had allegedly been kidnapped and gangraped by two persons — Manoj Shah (22) and Pradeep Kumar (20) — in the ground floor flat of the building where she stayed with her parents. She had allegedly been lured into Manoj’s flat with chocolates.

The girl was rescued and taken to the hospital nearly two days after she had gone missing. The doctors had recovered pieces of candlesticks and a bottle from the girl’s body in the

hospital. The accused had fled the spot after trying to strangulate her and allegedly thought that the girl was dead.

The trial in the case began on Wednesday after the court on July 11 framed charges of rape,aggravated sexual assault,unnatural offence,kidnapping,attempt to murder,destruction of evidence and wrongful confinement under Indian Penal Code,apart from charges under the newly enacted Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act against the two accused.