20-year-old girl raped in South Delhi, brings grim memories of December 16 night

A 20-year-old girl, who was on a job-hunt, was allegedly raped in a car in South Delhi's Moti Bagh area, a grim throwback to the horrific gang-rape and torture of a para-medic student in a moving bus on December 16, four years ago which had shaken the country.

The girl, a resident of Noida who had come to Delhi looking for a job, was waiting for a bus near AIIMS on Wednesday evening when the accused Avneesh (28), driving a car which had a sticker of the Home Ministry, offered to drop her. Police said the accused is the driver of a man whose father works in CISF.

Avneesh raped the girl inside the car in a secluded area but she managed to flee around midnight and was found by a police patrol team which brought her to South Campus police station in the wee hours yesterday. The accused has been caught.

The incident came to light today, the fourth anniversary of the December 16, 2012 gang-rape incident which had triggered massive outrage forcing the government to come out with stricter legal provision to deal with crime against women.However, the mother of the December 16 gangrape victim said nothing has changed in the last four years as far as women safety is concerned.

"We feel nothing has changed. The governments have also changed. It has been four years but the situation remains the same. For the last four years, we have been running from pillar to post to get justice. But no action has been taken against the accused," said a distraught Asha Devi.

A youth who was among six persons convicted in the case was released last year as he was a juvenile when he had committed the crime. One of accused had committed suicide while four others are lodged in jail as they have appealed against their death penalty.

According to Delhi Police statistics, 2,199 rape cases were reported in the capital in 2015 while till November 30 this year, 1,981 cases of rape have been registered.

As per National Crime Records Bureau, Delhi has the highest rate of crimes against women among all the cities in the country. Last year, the total number of cases of crime against women in Delhi was 17,104. On Wednesday's rape of the Noida girl, police said prompt action taken and the accused, a resident of Etah in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested yesterday.

"The car is a private vehicle. The owner's father works in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and is posted in Delhi. We will be questioning them about the sticker. If it has been procured illegally, action will be taken against them," said DCP(South) Ishwar Singh.