Delhi: Man who raped toddler was babysitting her on parent's request

New Delhi: A 21-year-old man, accused of raping a one-and-a-half-year-old girl in south Delhi, was asked to babysit the toddler by her parents while they were out for work, the police said on Tuesday.

The shocking incident took place on Monday in the Shahpur Jat area. The girl was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital and is out of danger now, they said.

The victim's parents told police that the accused stays nearby and works in the housekeeping department of a hotel.

He was a friend of the toddler's father, who would often ask him to be with the girl while he was away at work.

Yesterday, he asked the accused to be with his daughter. His wife works as a domestic help and had gone for her work.

The accused was alone with the girl and allegedly sexually assaulted her. Later, when the girl's mother came back, she found that her daughter was crying and there was bleeding from her private parts, the police said.

She was taken to a hospital, where doctors informed the girl's parents that she had been sexually assaulted.

The police were informed and it was found that the girl was allegedly raped by her father's friend who was babysitting her.

He was arrested from his house, the police said.

Police is probing whether the accused had sexually assaulted the girl on earlier occasions as well. They are also probing whether he had any accomplice.

People in the locality would often leave their children in the care of the accused and it is being probed whether he had sexually assaulted any other child.

Delhi Commission For Women Swati Maliwal visited the girl in the hospital. She also protested in front of Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. She demanded that the home minister visit the victim to understand the pain she went through.

She has also been demanding that perpetrators in cases of rapes of minors be awarded death sentence within six months to send out a strong message.

Maliwal was detained along with other members of the women's panel and taken to Mandir Marg police station and later released.

Earlier this month, a one-and-a-half-year-old girl was raped by a man in the presence of his two children in outer Delhi's Aman Vihar. The accused was subsequently arrested.

A few days after the outer delhi rape incident, a seven-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by two juveniles when she had gone to attend nature's call to a nearby washroom in outer Delhi's Kanjhawla.