An eight-month-old baby girl has been raped in India’s capital, New Delhi, allegedly by her 28-year-old cousin while her parents were out working.
Aljazeera reports that the rape has provoked angry reactions from activists who are pressing for long-pending police accountability to aid in the fight against sexual violence in the country.
The child’s mother found her bleeding upon returning from work in the evening. The doctors at the hospital confirmed the rape and said the baby had to undergo surgery.
“I had left for work leaving my children at home. My wife works too. So she too left for work soon after. When she came back, she saw blood-soaked bed and clothes of the child. When she told this to her sister-in-law she made excuses. My child is in critical condition now,” the father, a labourer in the city, told Indian news agency ANI.
Police in Delhi said the accused has been arrested.
“We arrested the accused yesterday [Monday]. He is the 28-year-old cousin of the victim,” said Parvati, Additional Sub-Inspector at Subhash Nagar Police Station.
“We have booked him under 376 Indian Penal Code and section 6 of the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences. The investigation is still underway,” Parvati told Al Jazeera.
A Delhi government official said the child is on life support and that her internal organs were damaged during the assault.
The Chief of the Delhi Commission for Women, Swati Maliwal, after visiting the child in hospital said she was frustrated with the “complete systemic apathy” and the fact that “people just turn the pages of the newspapers and carry on with their lives”.
“I can still hear her screams and cries. As DCW chief, I feel horrified at this abuse of a child, I feel as if I have been raped. She is on life support right now,” Maliwal said.
She called for the death penaty for perpetrators.
“In every case of child rape, we need to deliver the death penalty within six months of the crime. At present, cases drag on for years. There is no deterrence, no fear. The implementation of already existing laws is also terrible,” Maliwal said.
“All police stations in Delhi are currently functioning at half its sanctioned strength, we need to improve this. There is lack of accountability of the police. We need more forensic labs, many special courts to deal with child rapes,” she added.
Rape crimes increased by a whopping 85% in 2017 in India. Critics say the trial periods are always froth with irregularities, corruption among the Police and LeAuthorities and and sentences were too mild such that they do not serve as a deterrent to others.
In Delhi’s adjacent Haryana state 10 rapes, mostly of minors including a three-year-old, were reported within 10 days this month.
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