New Delhi:
Arrested Delhi government officer Premoday Khakha, accused of raping his friend’s teen daughter, was recruited as a Welfare Officer in the Delhi Government in 1998. He has worked in the women and child welfare and social welfare departments over the last 25 years. He also dealt with rights and welfare of vulnerable groups and children, according to his social media profiles and official documents. In his work profile on LinkedIn, Premoday Khakha says he aims at “building relationships to protect humanity.”
His LinkedIn profile says he was a resource trainer on child protection, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, and the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act.
He was also the superintendent of the juvenile home where the minor accused in the Nirbhaya case was detained.
In March 2022, at the request of Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot, he was made his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Department of Women and Child Development.
When Atishi took over this ministry in March 2023, he was removed from the post.
Premoday Khakha was assistant director at the time of the incident, and was at the post of deputy director at the women and child development department before being suspended on Monday.
Primoday Khakha is from Jharkhand’s Hazirabagh, and was residing in Shakti Enclave in North Delhi’s Burari, where he allegedly drugged and raped the minor girl.
He has a 21-year-old son and a 22-year-old daughter.
Khakha faces serious charges of child abuse under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) for allegedly raping his friend’s daughter, then 14 years old, for months. When she became pregnant, his wife Seema allegedly gave her abortion pills to terminate the pregnancy.