Protests continue over 5-yr-old's rape; PM makes an appeal

Protesters on Sunday gathered outside Police Headquarters and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for the second day to express solidarity with the five-year-old girl who was raped by her neighbour and demanded the resignation of Commissioner Neeraj Kumar.

Though not in high numbers, the protesters of Aam Aadmi Party shouted slogans against Kumar and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

On Saturday, there were protests at PHQ, AIIMS, Gandhinagar Police station and residences of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

The girl was locked in his ground floor rented accommodation in east Delhi's Gandhi Nagar by her neighbour Kumar (22) on April 15 and brutally raped her before fleeing thinking that the girl is dead.

The Delhi Police is investigating whether a second person was involved in the rape of a five-year-old girl, who is undergoing treatment at AIIMS. She also contracted infection from foreign objects inserted in her body.

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However, Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat issued a statement denying "rumours" of arresting a second accused or looking for him.

A senior police official said they will investigate whether any other person is involved in the incident either in raping the girl or helping the accused Manoj Kumar, who was arrested from Bihar, flee from the capital after the incident on April 15.

"We are questioning Kumar. As of now he has not told us about a second accused. Further investigations and interrogation are on," the official said without ruling out the possibility of the emergence of a second person.

Kumar was brought to Delhi from Patna after his arrest from his in-laws' house in Muzaffarpur district.

The rape has outraged the capital with many hitting the streets demanding justice for the victim and punishing policemen who were lax in helping the family.

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Citing the horrific incident, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said there was a need to make "vast improvements" to ensure women's safety in the country.

He asked people to work collectively to uproot such depravity from the society.

"It is widely accepted that, as a country, we have vast improvements to make in these (safety, security and status of women) areas. These issues came into sharper focus after the horrific gangrape incident in Delhi last December.

"The gruesome assault on a little child a few days back reminds us of the need to work collectively to root out this sort of depravity from our society," Singh said.

The two brutal incidents -- gangrape of a girl in a moving bus on December 16 last year and rape of a five-year-old girl earlier this week -- had resulted in agitations by various sections, demanding better law and order to ensure women's security and stringent punishment to the culprits.

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The Prime Minister said the agitations that have followed the two incidents also point to the need for showing concern and sensitivity while dealing with public anxiety that such incidents generate.

"Our government has moved with speed in strengthening the law to be able to deal more effectively with offences against women. However, this is but a small part of what needs to be done.

"All of us, as responsible citizens, have a special obligation to contribute to the social and economic empowerment of women in our country," he said, inaugurating the 8th Civil Services Day function in New Delhi.