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20 Apr, 2013 12:52

Indian rape suspect who left 5yo victim to die arrested

The man suspected of the rape and torture of a 5-year-old Indian girl has been taken into custody by Delhi police. Protests erupted in the Indian capital demanding justice for the infant and accusing police of ‘apathy’ towards the case.

The victim was locked in a room for 48-hours after the rapist fled, believing her to be dead.

The suspect, Manoj Kumar, 22, was detained by police in the village of Bharthua on Saturday. Police believe he took refuge in the house of his in-laws after he took a five-year-old girl hostage and raped her on Monday.

"We have got Manoj's transit and he is being brought to Delhi for interrogation. An initial interrogation of the accused and Medico-Legal Case (MLC) report shows that he left the girl thinking her dead. She was locked in the room for over 40 hours," said Delhi’s deputy commissioner of police.

A demonstrator shouts slogans during a protest outside police headquarters in New Delhi April 20, 2013.(Reuters / Adnan Abidi)

The five-year-old victim is currently in a critical condition in a Delhi hospital after being found by a neighbor who heard her cries when he passed the room on the ground floor of a building in East Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar. Police say the victim’s family was staying nearby.

In response to what has been branded as police apathy to the case, protesters marched the streets of the Indian capital on Saturday. Demonstrators gathered outside the house of Home Sushilkumar Shinde and called for justice and the resignation of the police commissioner.

Reports materialized that the police of Ghandi Nagar alleged tried to pay the parents of the victim so that they would not pursue the case.

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest outside police headquarters in New Delhi April 20, 2013.(Reuters / Adnan Abidi)

A number of high-profile rape cases have forced Indian lawmakers to scrutinize legislation regarding sexual violence against women and girls. Last month the Indian parliament put through a bill stipulating harsher punishments for rapists, including the death sentence.

Public furor was sparked across the country in December after an Indian student was gang raped and murdered on a Delhi bus. The case drew massive protests calling for a change to rape legislation.

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