MP: Condition of 5-year-old rape victim worsens

The condition of the five-year-old rape victim from Seoni district in Madhya Pradesh further deteriorated on Wednesday, according to doctors attending on her at a private hospital in Nagpur.

"Her condition had worsened on Tuesday as she was not responding to treatment and today she is sinking," said Chief Hospital Administrator Dr Ravi Mannadiyar.

Doctors had planned to conduct a test on her to ascertain whether or not the damage to her brain due to suffocation was irreversible.

It is basically a test to check if a person is brain dead. It assesses the functioning of the brain stem which is responsible for vital functions like breathing, they said.

But the test was postponed so that it could be carried out after her vital parameters stabilise.

The minor from Ghansaur town, who is battling for her life, was allegedly raped by one Firoz Khan on April 17 and later dumped on a farm land. Her parents found her next morning and rushed her to the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College in Jabalpur for treatment.

She was airlifted to Nagpur on the night of April 20 for treatment.

The 35-year-old accused, who was working in the Jhabua Power Plant Limited in MP, was arrested on Tuesday from Hussainabad area of Bihar's Bhagalpur district, where he was hiding after committing the crime.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti and State Home Minister Uma Shankar Gupta had visited the girl in the hospital to enquire about her health.