Delhi man arrested over rape of 87-year-old bedridden woman

The victim lives with her 65-year-old daughter but was alone at home when the alleged incident occurred

Representative: Delhi police on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly raping a 87-year-old woman at her home on Sunday (AFP via Getty Images)

A 30-year-old man in India has been arrested on suspicion of raping an 87-year-old bedridden woman in the capital, Delhi.

The case sparked massive outrage on social media after the woman’s family said that police had initially failed to register a complaint of rape, which the authorities have denied.

The bedridden woman was allegedly raped on Sunday by a man who posed as a gas meter reader, according to police.

A 30-year-old man, identified only by his first name Ankit who worked as a sweeper in the area, has been arrested, according to a video statement on Twitter made by Delhi police deputy commissioner Prashant Gautam.

Mr Gautam said the victims’s mobile phone had also been recovered from the accused.

The octogenarian, who lives in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar area with her 65-year-old daughter, was alone at home when the incident occurred, according to the victim’s family.

The family said the suspect entered the woman’s home at 12.30pm on Sunday and locked the door from inside.

When he was questioned by the woman, the man said he worked with a gas agency and had been called for some work.

The family said the woman suspected his intentions and screamed for help. The suspect proceeded to allegedly assault and rape her, after which he fled with her mobile phone.

The octogenarian was found injured by her daughter later who called the police.

The family has alleged inaction by the police in the case and accused them of not lodging a case of rape and assault.

“They (survivor and daughter) are senior citizens and live alone. I came to Delhi and found that the police told them that they shouldn’t pursue the case because of their age and it would be stressful for them. The police registered a theft case and didn’t even inform us,” a relative was quoted as saying to The Indian Express.

The family also alleged that it was only after outrage on social media that the police took cognisance of the assault charge.

“The police were still not taking us seriously and were trying to dissuade us,” the woman’s grandson-in-law was quoted as saying to The Hindu newspaper.

“We had to take the help of social media to highlight the matter after which, a senior police officer listened to us.”

Mr Gautam, the deputy commissioner, said the initial complaint pertained to an unknown person who had broken into their house and stolen the woman’s mobile phone.

“They alleged that an unknown person came to their house and stole the senior citizen lady’s mobile phone after entering the house on the pretext of checking their gas meter,” he said.

“On the basis of this allegation we lodged an FIR [First Information Report] and on 14 February after consulting her relatives, the allegation surfaced that the unknown person had assaulted the senior citizen.”

“Based on the complaint of assault we added relevant sections to the FIR and started probing the case.”

Announcing the accused’s arrest on Tuesday, Mr Gautam claimed the case had been advanced within 16 hours of receiving the complaint.

“On 14 February we received a complaint of sexual assault of a senior citizen in Tilak Nagar. As soon as we received the complaint, we deployed several teams and within 16 hours we zeroed in on a suspect and arrested him,” he said.

“This was a tough case as it was a blind case. Yet we have worked it out in 16 hours,” he added.

Speaking to The Independent, Delhi police’s public relations officer Chinmoy Biswal refuted the allegation of inaction on the assault charge.

“Initially the complaint related to theft and we started our probe immediately,” Mr Biswal said.

He claimed the family had added the complaint of assault and alleged rape later.