New Delhi:
Protests erupted in the national capital today as people took to the streets demanding justice and punishment to policemen who did not help locate a five-year-old girl who went missing on April 15. The child was raped and mutilated allegedly by her 22-year-old neighbour, who was arrested last night from Bihar. (
Read: Man accused of raping five-year-old girl in Delhi arrested from Bihar)
Activists are protesting outside the Delhi Police Headquarters alleging the cops had failed to act in the case. Holding up banners and shouting slogans against the government and police, some protesters tried to break barricades. They are demanding that Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar resign, saying he "failed to tackle the rape crimes" in the city.
The protesters also demanded that the rapist should be given the death sentence.
"The government makes laws just for the sake of making them, with no intention to stop crimes. None of the laws are implemented, and we see rapes increasing by the day," said a man protesting outside the police headquarters.
The protesters have also blocked Vikas Marg near ITO, the road which leads to the Police Headquarters. Traffic policemen have made diversions to handle traffic.
Around 100 protesters are also demonstrating outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Hospital, where the five-year-old is being treated.
Doctors at AIIMS say that the girl's condition is stable. "The girl's general condition is stable... she is conscious, alert, all parameters are within normal limits... surgery will be conducted after the infection is controlled," said Doctor DK Sharma.
The five-year-old was kidnapped on Monday while she was playing outside her home, and was then kept captive in the basement of the same building where she lived by a man who rented a room there about a week ago. On Wednesday evening, it was not the police but neighbours who found her after they heard her cries.