Guard, cleaner held for attempt to rape 11-year-old

NEW DELHI - A morning run in a park turned horrific for a 10-year-old boy and his equally young sister when a guard at the park and a cleaner attempted to rape the girl in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri Monday morning, police said. The two men have been arrested.

The siblings, the sister aged 11 years, hail from Shimla in Himachal Pradesh and had come to the capital to attend their maternal grandmother’s funeral.

The incident occurred at a makeshift gymnasium in a public park in Vikaspuri.

“The incident was reported from a park in Vikaspuri’s C block at 10 a.m. when the siblings went missing and didn’t meet their parents at the exit gate like they were told to,” said V. Renganathan, deputy commissioner of police (West).

“Their parents’ frantic search led them to a gym constructed within the park’s premises. Here they saw their son being restrained by Dhananjay, the guard, while Rinku, the cleaner, was taking off their daughter’s garments,” said a senior police officer.

Dhananjay, 30, works as a guard at the park and Rinku, 28, is a cleaner at the makeshift Shiv Jugnu Gym located within the park.

According to police, the siblings’ father is a small time businessman in Shimla and had arrived in Delhi with his family Feb 5.

“The angry parents raised a hue and cry that attracted passersby, who caught hold of Dhananjay and Rinku and assaulted them before handing them over to us,” the officer said.

Police said the siblings’ parents had fortunately intervened before the children could be sexually assaulted.

“We have arrested the duo for attempt to rape and forcible restraint,” DCP Renganathan added.