A 16-year-old girl allegedly shot a 50-year-old woman with a county-made pistol in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura, Delhi Police officials said on Saturday, adding that the minor has been apprehended.
According to police, the minor had in 2021 accused the woman’s 25-year-old son of raping her, and the man is currently in jail. After being shot, the woman has been admitted to hospital and is stated to be out of danger, the officers said.
Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Sanjay Kumar Sain said the police control room received a call at about 5.30pm about shots being fired at Bhajanpura’s Ghonda area. When a police team reached the spot, they were told that the woman was shot by a minor known to her, and that the victim has been taken to Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital by local residents.
At the hospital, police discovered the woman runs grocery store on the ground floor of her residence, and was at her shop when the girl walked up to her, shot her, and then fled. The victim, her family, and local residents were all able to identify the accused girl.
An investigator said the girl was apprehended within hours and the country-made pistol she used has been recovered.
“It has come to the fore that the girl had alleged that she was raped by the woman’s son in 2021, after which a case on charges of rape and under relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act was registered. The 25-year-old son was then arrested and is still lodged in jail,” an investigator privy to probe said.
Another investigator said that it is yet to be ascertained why the girl shot the woman when her son had already been arrested. “The investigation is at a preliminary stage and the motive will become clear once the girl is interrogated at length. We are also speaking to the woman, her family and the accused’s family to ascertain the motive,” the officer said.
Police are also investigating how and from where the girl got the weapon.
