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Delhi came out on the streets as the full extent of the bestiality and horror visited upon a five-year girl, who was raped and mutilated by a 24 year old man and left for dead, became public.
Manoj, the alleged rapist, was arrested from Muzaffarpur, Bihar and brought to Delhi in transit remand as the little girl was moved to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where the doctors said her condition was stable and she was conscious but added that she would need extended surgery.
The alleged rapist has told the police that he locked up the girl and fled because he thought she was dead.
The little girl was locked up for 40 hours in a tiny room where she was wailing, and eventually found weak, whimpering and crying.
Delhi's Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Prabhakar said "Manoj left Delhi on April 15 at 8:30 p.m. by Swatantrata Senani Express and reached his in-laws house in Bihar April 17, from where he was arrested Friday."
"Manoj has two brothers and four sisters, who live in Bihar. He had come to Delhi with his father 15 years ago and had been living here since then," he said.
"His father runs a juice shop in Old Seelampur area in east Delhi while Manoj was employed as a casual worker in a garment factory," he said.
The girl was abducted on April 15 and kept hostage for two days without food and water in a room in which the attacker lived, on the ground floor of the building in east Delhi's Gandhi Nagar. The victim's family stayed in the same building, police said.
The girl, who was repeatedly raped, was rescued when a neighbour heard her screams and informed her family, who broke down the door of the room in which she had been held hostage and assaulted.
Delhi saw widespread protests by political parties – the student wings of the CPI M and the BJP, the SFI and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad led protests outside Police headquarters and the residence of the Home Minister. The Aam Aaadmi party also led protests. There was rage and indignation against the police for manhandling protestors.
As Delhi is going to have elections in 2014, political parties were quick to jump into the fray. The Delhi unit of the BJP started a protest demonstration from the Talkatora Stadium. The Congress – somewhat helpless because the elected government does not have powers of law and order – demanded, again, trifurcation of home functions along the lines of the division of powers of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
Congress President Sonia Gandhi in an uncharacteristically sharp interjection said she wanted action not words. The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said death penalty must be given to the rapist.
Delhi meanwhile didn’t know how to comfort the little girl. Ordinary people placed soft toys as the gurney bearing her was wheeled through hospital corridors. Many brought food, not knowing she is in no position to eat. Prayer ceremonies for her were held in many cities in the country. Others simply kept vigil.
