A three-year-old girl was raped and a wooden object inserted into her private parts by unidentified assailants here in the national capital. The minor girl was in critical condition after having undergone surgery at the Safdarjung Hospital. A case has been registered against unknown people in south Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar police station, and efforts were on to identify the accused.

According to police, the girl, who lives with her parents in a slum cluster in Pilanji village near Sarojini Nagar, was lured and raped at an isolated plot on Saturday night. The incident came to light when the girl was seen crying near her house, and found to be bleeding.

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3-year-old girl in ICU after alleged sexual assault:

The girl belonged to a poor family and her father is a hawker. She seems to have been lured away by the perpetrator while playing outside her house. Her family members suspected a neighbour’s involvement in the rape.  The police got information about the incident from Safdarjung hospital, where the girl was taken for treatment last night at around 11 PM, said a senior police officer.

The girl was operated upon and her condition is stated to be out of danger. However, she is kept in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. Doctors told police that she suffered severe internal injuries caused by a foreign object, which led to the excessive bleeding.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been registered at the Sarojini Nagar police station even as the girl continues to be on ventilator. Her condition is critical. “A manhunt has been launched and several teams have been formed to arrest the accused who is absconding after the incident,” the officer added.

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“It appears that the assailant was known to both the family and the girl; she seems to have been lured away easily before being subjected to sexual assault at knife-point,” the officer said.

On Sunday morning, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) President Barkha Singh visited the girl and her family at the hospital. She termed the incident ‘shameful’.