NEW DELHI: The paedophile, Naresh, has tried thrice in the past 10 days to abduct the four-year-old girl from Sector 1 of Rohini. However, his attempts were thwarted as someone was always present to chase him away.
Locals said that the accused was a habitual offender and he had been beaten up many times for targeting children. His preferred hunting ground was the “nursery park” surrounded by two schools. However, the matter was never reported to the police.
The girl’s mother runs an ironing shack at the corner of the park since the past one year. “The man was caught flashing his private parts to my daughter 10 days ago. However, an elderly woman thrashed and chased him away,” she said.
The man was caught trying to drag the child into the bushes another time, but when her mother raised an alarm he ran away. “He used to walk about two kilometres from his house to phase-II and wait till school got over. He would go to the park, lure the children into a corner and assault them,” said another girl’s mother.
“When I saw him carrying my girl, I shouted loudly and the municipal workers working nearby overpowered him. He was beaten up before being handed over to the police,” said the four-year-old girl’s mother.
The girl’s father is a security guard at a private showroom and is mostly away from home. “I rushed to Ambedkar hospital after my wife called me in the afternoon,” he said.
TOI visited the narrow dark alleys of the slum and found that the area is mostly inhabited by labourers who are forced to leave their children alone at home and go to work.
A woman recalled that Naresh had earlier sexually assaulted a 11-year-old girl after which he was arrested. He had admitted to committing multiple instances of similar crimes during interrogation. “The police should make a list of such habitual offenders and keep an eye on them otherwise someone else’s child may get abused when the man is released from jail,” said the child’s father.