Serial rapist arrested in Delhi

"Even more shocking is the brutality with which he raped his victims," says Dr R K Sharma, a retired professor of forensic science: "Each of the girls will bear deep mental and physical scars throughout their life. I have met some of them with great difficulty, they are unwilling to meet any stranger ever again. He has shattered their confidence."

Adds Joint Commissioner of Police (southern range): "The age groupof the victims in these cases is very disturbing. In fact, of the 423 cases of rape reported in Delhi last year, 233 victims were below 18 years old. We request parents not to leave their minor children unattended and only under the care of some one very trustworthy. In 71 per cent of last year’s case, the assailants were acquaintances or a family member."

Initially, when the police started investigating the recent series of rapes, they did not know that Ashok was involved in four cases of attempt to rape in 1996 and 1997.

Investigators later matched his photographs preserved in police records to establish that he was the same person and he had misled the police about his identity each time he was arrested earlier.

According to DCP (west) Uday Sahay, Ashok Kumar, changed his modus operandi after he was released on bail in connection with an attempt to rape case in early 1998.

"Till then he used to target older girls – eight to nine-year-olds. When he realised that he could not overpower them withoutattracting attention, he picked on girls in the 4-6 age group. Ashok told us that this way he could fulfill his objective by simply slapping these girls," says DCP Sahay. "For the past two months he had created havoc in Kirti Nagar and Hari Nagar. Thankfully, we have caught him with the help of residents."

His recent victims:

A five-year-old girl, resident of Chuna Bhatti Jhuggi colony, was found raped in a park. Her parents reported the incident only on March 1, fearing social retribution.

Another four-year-old girl from the Jawahar Camp jhuggis found raped.

A six-year-girl went missing from Chuna Bhatti Jhuggis for three hours. When her parents found her, they realised she had been raped.

A four-year-old girl’s parents found her bleeding profusely near a deserted school. She had been brutally raped after being kidnapped from outside her house in the Samta Dham jhuggis in Hari Nagar.

On February 21, 1999, another four-year-old girl could have been Ashok’s sixth victim, but for some jhuggi dwellers of Hari Nagar. Immediately after the girl went missing, the residents launched a search in the area.

"By then residents of all jhuggis were convinced that a serial rapist was on the prowl. And that he was targeting minors from their jhuggis. We had, along with a voluntary organization Umeed also alerted them in this regard," says DCP Sahay.

During the search that day, one of the groups heard the missing girl’s muffled cries near from inside a DDA park near the Mayapuri Ring Road. They zeroed down to a cluster of bushes and threatened to set it afire if the person inside did not come out.

By that time about, 1,000 jhuggi-dwellers had gathered in the area. "They were seething with angerand revenge. When an unfortunate passerby commented that they should not set the bushes afire, he nearly lost his life. The residents were even convinced that he was the main culprit," says Sahay.

Meanwhile, in the confusion, Ashok emerged from the bushes and surrendered himself to the mob. Investigations later proved that Ashok was the culprit and the passerby was innocent.

"Ashok is a sex maniac, suffering from what doctors call Impulse Control Disorder and Paranoid Schizophrenia. And it would worsen every time he consumed alcohol. Initially, he would visit prostitutes in G B Road. After he caught venereal disease, he began targeting minors."