The alleged rape of 5-year-old girl

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The alleged rape of 5-year-old girl by a male neighbour in the New Delhi triggered a protest march on Friday to a city hospital by her relatives and political activists, reawakening concerns about safety for women and girls.
Despite a public holiday, several hundred people gathered outside a municipal hospital in eastern Delhi, where the girl was admitted for treatment on Thursday.
They demanded better law enforcement and chanted slogans on gender rights, television reports showed.
The girl's rape, which left her in a critical condition, revived memories of the brutal gang rape by five adult men and a teenaged boy of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus on December 16 in New Delhi. That woman died of her injuries.
B.N. Bansal, a doctor from the Swami Dayanand Hospital, told reporters, that the young victims had undergone an operation.
"The next 48 hours will be crucial for her."
The girl, whose parents work as labourers and live in a slum in the outskirts of Delhi, went missing from home on April 15, according to Manish Sisodia, an official of the Aam Aadmi Party which organised Friday's protest.
She was found with bruise marks on her body in the suspect's house in a semi-conscious condition on Thursday by police after her parents had registered a complaint, media reports said.
The suspect, who fled, allegedly held the girl hostage for three days during which he raped and tortured her.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was deeply disturbed by the incident, a statement from his office said.
The unprecedented protests by thousands of people across India after the December assault had forced Singh's government to pass tougher laws to fight gender crimes in March.
But activists on Friday said the laws were not enough to deter sex offenders in India's largely patriarchal societies.
"If you thought just bringing in a new law will stop crimes, your are wrong. They will reduce, but won't stop. You need community policing to stop these crimes," activist Kiran Bedi told an Indian TV channel..
A 4-year-old Indian girl who was raped last week is currently in critical condition, having sustained severe brain injuries after allegedly being suffocated.
The unnamed child was reportedly raped in her village in Madhya Pradesh on April 17, according to Press Trust of India.
The girl's family found the child, who went missing on Wednesday, the next morning lying unconscious and profusely bleeding near a crematorium in her village, according to The Times of India. She had lacerations, tears and bruises on her body, and had allegedly been suffocated, which caused serious brain injuries.
Firoz Khan, a 35-year-old welder, is accused of raping the 4-year-old. His alleged accomplice is accused of using chocolate to lure the girl from her home, NDTV reports.
“The condition of the 4-year-old child, who was found unconscious in a field in Ghansur town of MP, is still critical. She is totally unconscious from the time she was brought to Nagpur," a doctor told The Hindu. "We have done all the examinations including MRI brain and EEG which indicates gross damage to her brain. Her brain’s functioning has reduced to an abnormal level. This is hypoxic brain damage which means inability of brain to work due lack of oxygen supply."
“She has been put on a life support system and is being treated by a team of senior doctors. Nothing else can be said about her situation now" he added.
Police are still searching for Khan, who may have left the country, according to NDTV. The other suspect has been arrested.
News of this horrific incident comes in the midst of fury over the rape and torture of a 5-year-old girl in the Indian capital . The girl was found Wednesday in a New Delhi apartment building and doctors discovered a candle and a bottle of hair oil inside her little body.
Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in the wake of the crime, alleging that police did not respond to the tragedy.
"The police must be held accountable for their shocking levels of apathy. They urgently need to review police processes to ensure that all cases of rape and sexual violence – not just those highlighted by the media – are fully and promptly investigated," G. Ananthapadmanabhan, who heads the India chapter of the human rights group Amnesty International, said, according to the Associated Press. "Those who fail to do their job must be held accountable."
Two suspects -- aged 19 and 24 -- have been arrested in connection with the rape, according to the report.