NEW DELHI, April 22 (RIA Novosti) - The area around the India Gate in Delhi was cordoned off by police late on Sunday, amid protests sparked by a brutal rape of a five-year-old girl.
Following a sit-in by Indian students, police built cordons and brought water cannons to the area. Protestors say arrests were made when the rally was being dispersed, but law enforcers did not confirm these claims.
Security was also enhanced in other areas where protests erupted, including the city’s police headquarters and the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The Delhi Metro shut its Race Course Road station near the PM's residence after a request from the police, NDTV reported.
According to police and local news reports, the 5-year-old girl, Gudiya, was abducted on Monday evening while playing in front of the building where her family lives in a New Delhi slum. She was allegedly kept hostage by her neighbor, Manoj Kumar, a 22-year-old garment factory worker, who tortured and repeatedly raped her.
Gudiya, who was kept without food and water, was rescued on April 17 after neighbors heard her cries. The injured girl was moved to a New Delhi public hospital. Doctors say she responded well to treatment and her current condition is not life-threatening.
Protestors, most of them students and women, demand the resignation of Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar and prosecution of two police officers who allegedly refused to open the inquiry at first, and then offered money to the girl’s father to hush up the case.
Sexual violence against women has become a pressing issue in India. The case comes four months after a 23-year-old student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University was beaten and raped by six drunken men on a bus in New Delhi. She later died of sustained injuries in a Singapore hospital.
