Hang attacker, says mother of rape victim, 7

AFTER raping the 7-year-old girl with a water hose in New Delhi, the attacker handed her 10 rupees and a piece of chocolate in exchange for her silence, according to her mother. He then left her – a towel around her waist and bleeding – near her home.

The 26-year-old mother scooped up the frightened child and asked her to point out the alleged attacker, she told CNN on Thursday.

“She was holding her stomach and she was bleeding,” said the mother, whose name is being withheld because rape victims and their families cannot be identified under Indian law. “When I saw her blood, there was no strength left in my body.”

The girl later picked out the man in a crowd of men gathered nearby, she said.

“I felt that there is no life in my body and there is no ground below my feet,” the mother said.

A 21-year-old has been arrested in connection with the rape, which occurred in the district of Shahdara in the northeastern part of the city, said Meghna Yadav, a deputy commissioner with the Delhi police. She said she could not provide further details.

Swati Maliwal, chairwoman of the Delhi Commission for Women, said the girl was in extreme pain.

The girl’s mother said the man also wrapped the hose around her daughter’s neck after raping her on Monday. She described the man as a rag picker who rummages through refuse in the streets.

The girl was in critical condition at a New Delhi hospital after having surgery for injuries she suffered in the attack, officials said on Wednesday.

“He should be hanged,” the mother said of the suspect. “Life imprisonment is too small a punishment. It is nothing compared to what he has done.”

Asked whether she was concerned about the mental effects of the assault, the girl’s mother said, “She will have to forget about this . ... She should just forget.”