Police in India on Monday arrested a second man in connection with the rape and torture of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi amid uproar over apparent insensitivity of authorities to widespread violence against women.
A second suspect was arrested in Bihar state early Monday, according to local police chief Rajeev Mishra. The main accused for the attack on the young girl was arrested on Saturday and is due to appear in a Delhi court this week, according to Reuters.
The five-year-old girl was abducted on April 15 and attacked in a locked room for more than 48 hours, police said, before neighbors heard her cries and found her. She was brought to a hospital in the capital in a serious condition but is now responding well to treatment, doctors said.
Hundreds of people have protested against the gruesome assault outside the city police headquarters and the home of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, reports the BBC.
Protesters are demanding Delhi’s police chief to resign over allegations that police ignored complaints by the girl’s parents when she went missing and offered them money to cover up the case.
Sexual violence against women in India came under the spotlight after the fatal gang-rape of a medical student on New Delhi bus in December. But vicious attacks on women continue to rise despite tougher legislation on rape recently passed by India’s parliament.
