Delhi Child Rape Case Triggers New Protests, Second Suspect Arrested

The brutal rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi, India has triggered fury on the streets of the capital, while police say they have arrested a second suspect.

The girl, who suffered serious internal injuries during her over 40 hour ordeal, is now being treated at the state-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

Last week, police said the 5-year-old was abducted on Monday, April 15 and kept tied up in the basement of the building that she lived in with her family.

It’s alleged the child was subjected to repeated rape and beatings, was refused food, and was also burned. Local news reports said doctors recovered flammable debris from the child’s genital area.

The nature of the five-year-old’s injuries are so severe that doctors have also said she may needs “definitive and corrective surgery,” though the child is now conscious, stable, and alert, said D.K. Sharma, one of the team of doctors that is treating her said on Saturday.

One man, Manoj Kumar, a 22-year-old described by media reports as a tenant in the child’s house, was arrested on Saturday and is due to appear in a Delhi court this week.

The second suspect, in his early 2’s, was arrested early on Monday after he was tracked down to a relative’s house in the eastern state of Bihar, local police chief Rajeev Mishra told Reuters.

“He was arrested about 1am,” Mishra said. “Delhi police and local police made a combined effort to arrest him.”

The case has been further complicated by allegations that the victim’s family was offered 2,000 rupees (around $35) to keep quiet about the rape and were told they should be grateful the little girl was alive. An inquiry has been opened by Delhi police to investigate that claim.

At a Saturday press conference, Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat called the attack on the 5-year-old a “shameful” act and demanded punitive action to be carried out against the policemen accused of offering the bribe.

On Monday, protestors called for the Delhi’s most senior policeman to resign.

The chief investigating officer in the case and a senior colleague who is alleged to have slapped a protestor on Friday have both already been suspended.

Delhi police have also opened an inquiry into allegations that the victim’s family was offered 2,000 rupees (around $35) to keep quiet about the rape and told they should be grateful that she was alive.

“We have been protesting since December 16 but the Delhi police have not learned their lesson,” Sunil Singh, a student told AP, while protesting outside the hospital where the child is being treated.

“It’s shameful that the parents of this child were asked to keep quiet. I am worried what kind of future are we looking at,” Singh added.

The alleged attack on the five-year-old comes just four months after the gang rape and resulting death of a 23-female student after she was set upon by six men on a bus in Delhi.

Widely referred to as “Damini” in India, the physiotherapy student’s death led to protests across India and calls for wholesale changes in attitudes and laws in the country to meet the endemic problem of sexually violent crimes against women and children.

A further alleged gang-rape and beating of a Swiss woman who was vacationing with her husband in India was reported last month.

Street demonstrations over the latest alleged rape of the 5-year-old continue in Delhi.