The girl, who was raped, lived with her uncle and aunt in a slum in South Delhi.
Highlights
- Mentally challenged teen raped, left near railway track
- Neighbour arrested; she is in hospital after major surgeries
- Politicians visit her, police says she was attacked with sharp object
A 13-year-old who is mentally challenged was raped and left for dead along a secluded railway track in Delhi in a horrific assault with reminders of the Nirbhaya case.
The teen, who was attacked on May 18, is fighting for her life in Delhi's famous AIIMS hospital, where both Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited her today.
Locals found the girl, who is an orphan being brought up by relatives, lying unconscious. "We have arrested the girl's neighbour for rape and on attempted murder charges," Rajesh Kumar, an investigator in the case told news agency AFP, adding that the teen had been attacked with a sharp object. "She had injuries and cuts on her torso, neck, private parts and limbs. He had left her to die by the railway tracks," Mr Kumar said.
The girl's aunt and uncle live in a slum in South Delhi. When her parents died years ago, they took her in.
Her aunt, Rajmala, said she makes it a point to be vigilant, but the teen disappeared when they went to collect water from a local handpump on May 17. "When I turned, I didn't see either my bottle of water or my niece," she told NDTV.
"Such incidents remind us that the Delhi government should have control over law and order," said Chief Minister Kejriwal, who has been arguing that the police force in the capital must report to his government and not the Centre.
The fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 unleashed a wave of public outrage and street protests against violence towards women.
The "Nirbhaya" case prompted the government to toughen penalties for rapists and overhaul policing to better protect women and children.
Just yesterday, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that in a new measure of safety for women, panic buttons will be fitted on public buses in Delhi and elsewhere.