NEW DELHI, April 21 (RIA Novosti) – Hundreds of people staged a protest in the Indian capital on Sunday over the kidnapping and rape of a five-year-old girl, the latest in a series of rape cases across the country.
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 where she will have to undergo surgery.
Police on Saturday arrested Kumar, who had reportedly fled to the central impoverished state of Bihar after the rape attack on the 5-year-old. Authorities said he was being returned to New Delhi to face rape and kidnapping charges.
Furious protests erupted across India after the story hit the headlines. The demonstrations continued on Sunday, with the protesters demanding better security for women and girls.
The five-year-old rape 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.
