India: 5-year-old raped girl is stable, conscious and alert
Indian protesters shout anti-government and anti-Delhi police slogans during a demonstration against the rape of a 5-year-old on April 20, 2013. Indian police have arrested a man in the brutal rape that has sparked fresh protests against sexual violence in the country.
D.K. Sharma, the doctor of a five-year-old victim of an alleged rape, said the girl is stable, conscious and alert, as she recovers in a New Delhi hospital but has severe injuries, cuts and bite marks to her face and body.
The young girl was allegedly kidnapped, tortured and repeatedly raped by a neighbor who held her in a locked room in New Delhi for two days, officials said.
25-year-old Manoj Kumar was arrested in India's eastern Bihar state over the weekend and is in police custody. He is due in court Monday and is being held without bail, city police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told CNN.
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The girl, who disappeared Monday, was found Wednesday by neighbors who heard crying from a locked room, according to sources citing Delhi police official Deepak Mishra.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh admitted that India has to make "vast improvements" when it comes to "the safety, security and status of women in our society."
"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 comments come amid vast criticism of the government's handling of this case and a string of recent violent rapes.
Protestors have taken to New Delhi's streets to protest the rape and the government's slow response since Friday.
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