Demanding removal of the Delhi police chief, outraged students and women protesting the rape of a 5-year-old girl today staged demonstrations at India Gate, Police Headquarters and near the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Placard-wielding protesters also gathered at AIIMS, where the girl is undergoing treatment, and burnt the effigy of police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar demanding his sacking.
Traffic was affected at ITO and India Gate in the evening as the number of protesters swelled.
More than 100 people, who staged protest at PHQ and near the residences of Singh and Gandhi, were detained and later released. Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed near the residence of the Prime Minister and PHQ.
The protesters were in small groups unlike the thousands who had swamped India Gate and Rajpath last December following the rape of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus, but their anger was palpable.
Delhi has recorded 393 rapes in the first three months of the year compared to 152 during the same period last year.
Around 15-20 members of Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tried to stage a protest in the evening near the Prime Minister's residence but were detained by the police.
Over 100 AAP supporters had earlier protested at PHQ. Police deployed water canons at PHQ.
Later, a group around 100 JNU students under the leadership of JNUSU President Lenin marched towards PHQ but were stopped near ITO. "The Commissioner has no moral right to continue. He should quit," Lenin said.
Women and student activists staged demonstrations near India Gate in the evening hours.
