India erupts in anger; suspect arrested

Two girls pray during a vigil for the rape victim in Ahmedabad yesterday.

Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside the headquarters of Delhi police on yesterday after a five year-old girl was allegedly raped and tortured, reviving memories of a brutal December assault on a woman that shook the country.
The child was being treated at a top government hospital in New Delhi and the latest medical bulletin issued late Friday described her as being in a critical condition.
The suspect, 22-year-old Manoj Kumar, was captured in eastern Bihar state after fleeing to his father-in-law's home in a village 70 kilometres (43 miles) from local capital Patna, police said.
Police accused the garment factory worker of repeatedly attacking the child inside a locked room over 48 hours after abducting her Monday in a lower-middle class area of New Delhi.
Doctors say the girl suffered severe injuries and bruising all over her body including her neck and genitalia.
Protests that began on Friday grew more intense after video footage showed a policeman slapping a woman protester, and following reports investigators offered the victim's family 2,000 rupees not to file a case.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office said in a statement that he was deeply disturbed by the latest incident.

Indian protestors shout anti-government slogans during a demonstration against the rape of a five-year old girl, in front of police headquaters in New Delhi yesterday. Photo: AFP

The assault on the girl revived memories of the gang rape by five adult men and a teenaged boy of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus on December 16 in New Delhi. That woman died of her injuries in a Singapore hospital. The case caused an outpouring of anger in India.
The unprecedented protests by thousands of people across India eventually forced Singh's government to pass tougher laws to fight gender crimes in March.
But activists on Friday said the laws were not enough to deter sex offenders in India's largely patriarchal societies.
Interior minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said the government was conducting an inquiry into allegations of police negligence.