Protests spread as Delhi seethes over minor's rape, accused held

The five-year-old girl, who wasraped and brutalised allegedly by her 22-year-old neighbour and presently undergoing treatment at the AIIMS, is alert and showing signs of recovery, doctors said on Saturday.

"At present, here general condition is stable. She is recovering and continues to be under close observation and monitoring. She is conscious, alert and all here parameters are well withing normal limits," AIIMS Medical Superintendent Dr DK Sharma told reporters.

She is showing signs of recovery and responding well to her treatment and she is speaking to her parents, he said reading out the medical bulletin.

The girl is under the supervision of a team of specialist doctors from paediatric surgery, paediatric medicine, gynaecology, urology, forensic medicine and anesthesia at the paediatric surgery department since last evening.

Doctors have also performed colostomy procedure to divert stool, and surgical dressing of her perineal injuries.

They have planned re-evaluation of perineal wounds and re-dressing under anesthesia tomorrow evening.

Earlier, doctors said that her condition was stable though she had suffered serious injuries in the assault.

"The girl is stable, conscious, alert and talking.All her vital parameters are under permissible limit.She is not in ICU but under close monitoring," Sharma had told reporters.

The girl, who was held captive in a house in Gandhi Nagar in east Delhi with no food and water, was shifted to AIIMS last evening from Swami Dayanand Hospital.

Sharma had said that definitive corrective surgery would need detailed planning and would be decided after the infection was controlled.

The girl has been put on IV fluid and antibiotics.

Sonia visits victim

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday visited AIIMS hospital to enquire about the minor girl who was raped allegedly by her neighbour in east Delhi.

Gandhi went to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and visited the girl in her room. She enquired about the victim's treatment and progress from doctors, and spoke with the parents of the victim.

The rape victim was shifted to AIIMS last evening.

Protests in Delhi

The brutal sexual assault on the minor in Delhi again brought protestors out on the streets, with crowds assembling Saturday at various places, including Delhi Police headquarters, AIIMS and residences of home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

The protests started in the morning at Police Headquarters near ITO with members of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Students Federation of India (SFI) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) demanding resignation of Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar. They were also joined by members of several women groups.

The protestors, numbering over 300, contended that Neeraj Kumar had failed to tackle rape crimes in the city. They also demanding death penalty to accused Manoj Kumar, who was arrested in Bihar's Muzaffarpur early Saturday.

Some of the protestors sought to enter the police headquarters but were stopped. A police official said one protestor, who entered the headquarters forcibly, had been detained.

More than 200 police personnel, including women officers, were stationed near the police headquarters and were equipped with water canons and tear gas to deal with the situation.

Police officials said they had requested people to protest peacefully.

Sucheita, an activist of the ultra-left All India Student Association, called for strict laws and improvement in police's functioning.

Kavita Krishanan, secretary of All India Progressive Women's Association, said case should be registered against the three police officials who had been suspended and they should be arrested. "The government should clarify over delay in probe of the matter," she said.

Protestors also thronged the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where the five-year-old victim is under treatment, and then gathered outside Shinde's residence, giving police a tough time.

Protestors were able to bring down some barricades but were prevented from entering Shinde's house by police who were present in sizeable numbers. "If there is so much security outside home minister's residence, where will be police to keep women safe on streets," an AAP member said.

Later, several Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) workers were stopped and detained by the police at Sansad Marg in central Delhi while they were heading towards Shinde's house Saturday evening. Around 40 people including party leader Vijay Goel were detained but later off.

Around 20 protestors also reached the 10 Janpath residence of Gandhi to lodge their protest but policemen asked them to leave.

Gandhi Nagar area in east Delhi, where the incident occurred, also witnessed protests and several shops were closed till the evening. Residents protested outside the Gandhi Nagar police station and burnt effigies of Delhi police commissioner.

In the evening, the protestors held a candle light vigil at AIIMS.

Leela Tyagi, a protestor, said: "Despite repeated protests, there have been no efforts made by the government to be alert and prevent such crimes."

Meanwhile, Delhi Police imposed prohibitory orders at the India Gate area, ahead of a candlelight march called by the Aam Aadmi Party and several NGOs.

People marching to the spot were stopped by policemen, deployed in considerable number in the area.

The city had witnessed protests Friday too.

President shocked

Shocked and anguished at the rape of a five-year-old girl here, President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday called for urgent introspection to identify causes behind repeated failure of society to ensure security of women and children.

He also sought urgent steps for bringing perpetrators to immediate justice.

"I am shocked and deeply anguished at the latest incident of sexual assault and rape of a five-year-old child in Delhi.

I join her family in praying for a speedy recovery and call upon concerned authorities to ensure the best possible medical attention for her," Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson Venu Rajamony quoted the President as saying.

While seeking urgent steps to bring the perpetrators to immediate justice, the President said, "As a society, we must introspect at the erosion of values and our repeated failure to ensure the security of our women and children.

"We must identify the causes and find solutions for such criminal depravity in our midst," he said.

He asked people to pledge all "energy and effort into ensuring that such aberrations which stain our moral fibre and standing as a society is prevented."

Accused flown in

The 22-year-old man, who wasarrested in Bihar for allegedly raping a five-year-old girl here, was today flown into the national capital.

The police team, which arrested Manoj Kumar, was flown to Delhi in an Air India flight from Patna this evening.

After a mandatory medical check-up, Kumar is being questioned by police, a senior police official said.

Kumar was arrested early this morning from his in-laws' house in Muzaffarpur in Bihar for allegedly raping the minor five days ago with investigators suspecting that he fled the capital within an hour of committing the crime fearing the victim had died.