A Delhi court on Wednesday extended by 14 days the judicial custody of suspended Delhi government officer Premoday Khakha, who allegedly raped a minor several times and impregnated her, as reported by news agency PTI. The judicial custody of Khakha's wife, Seema Rani, who is accused of giving the girl medicine to terminate her pregnancy, was also extended by 14 days. The couple was produced before Additional Sessions Judge (POCSO) Richa Parihar. Counsel for the accused, Umashankar Gautam stated that both the accused will be now produced in court after completion of their judicial custody on September 6.
According to the police, Khakha allegedly raped the girl several times between November 2020 and January 2021. She was staying at the residence of the accused, a family friend, after her father's death on October 1, 2020. Both of the accused were arrested on Monday after the victim recorded her statement before a magistrate at a hospital.
A case has been registered under provisions of the POCSO Act and Indian Penal Code sections 376(2)(f) (being a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman, commits rape on such woman) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman), police said.
IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman's consent) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) have also been invoked in the case, police said.
Earlier on Tuesday, meanwhile, DCW chief Swati Maliwal wrote a letter to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the Delhi govt officer accused. In the letter, Maliwal demanded that she should be allowed to meet the minor girl or her family, news agency ANI reported.
She further demanded that the medical treatment of the girl should be done in AIIMS or a team from AIIMS should see her and an inquiry should be conducted on the delay in the arrest of the accused govt official by Delhi Police.