Elderly man arrested for molesting two minor sisters in Delhi

A 51-year-old man was arrested for allegedly molesting a 12-year-old girl and her younger sister in south-west Delhi’s Chhawla, police said.

Police said that the accused was identified as Ajay and the incident was brought to light when the minor girl reported it on Tuesday.

According to the complaint, Ajay, who lived in their neighbourhood, had molested both girls on multiple occasions over the past one-and-a-half months.

The case came to the attention of the authorities through the “Nirbheek” community policing scheme, launched by the Delhi police.

This initiative aims to empower and encourage school-going children to report any form of harassment directly to the police without fear of reprisal or drawing unnecessary attention.

Police said that the complaint boxes had been installed in over 400 schools in the Dwarka district as part of this scheme, and they are regularly checked by personnel for student complaints.

They said that in this particular incident, a note was dropped in a complaint box at a government school in a village in Chhawla.

“Once the note was discovered, the victim was contacted through the school and provided with counseling by the police,” they added.

Subsequently, a case was registered against the accused under Section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8/12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, said the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), M Harsha Vardhan, stated that the police team visited the scene of the incident and, based on manual surveillance, successfully tracked and apprehended Ajay. (With inputs from PTI)