Indian police arrest teenage suspects in toddler rape

Police in New Delhi have announced that two teenagers were arrested over the rape of a toddler. Protesters in the capital have accused authorities of failing to stop chronic sexual violence in the country.

Deutsche Welle, 18 October 2015

In this image made from video, police collect evidence in the playground where an
alleged rape of a two-year-old girl took place in New Delhi, early Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015

Indian police said on Sunday that they apprehended two teenagers suspected of raping a two-year-old child in New Delhi on Friday.

"More than 20 teams were formed and almost 260 suspects were interrogated. Finally, late on Saturday night, we apprehended the juveniles behind the deplorable act," said Dependera Pathak, Delhi's police commissioner, during a press conference.

"Further investigation is on. All concerned evidences are being collected," Pathak noted.

The police commissioner said that the two 17-year-old suspects would face charges within 10 days, adding that one of the suspects was known by the girl's family. The incident sparked protests and anger from New Delhi's residents.

The toddler was found bleeding in a park near her home on Friday night after having disappeared during a 10-minute power outage.

The fatal rape of a medical student in 2012 sparked protests that decried the
treatment of women in India

Chronic sexual violence

Friday night's assault was the second of its kind within 24 hours. In east Delhi, a five-year-old girl was raped by several men. Police arrested three of them on Saturday.

The incidents come on the heels of yet another attack the week before, in which a four-year-old girl was raped, stabbed with a knife and dumped near railway tracks in Delhi.

On Saturday, protesters in Delhi accused Indian authorities of failing to address chronic sexual violence in the country.

Following the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus in December 2012, the government responded by increasing jail terms for perpetrators of sexual violence.

India's National Crime Records Bureau recorded 36,735 cases of rape in 2014, with 2,096 of them in Delhi alone. However, experts have said the figures are likely much higher and do not include all incidents of sexual violence.

ls/se (AFP, AP, dpa)