A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by an unidentified accused in a slum dwelling in north west Delhi's Keshav Puram area, police said today.
This incident comes days after a BPO employee was brutally gang raped in Bangalore by a bus driver and cleaner.
The girl, a resident of JJ cluster in Keshav Puram area, was found bleeding profusely. She was rushed to Mahavir Hospital, from where she was referred to Safdarjung Hospital where she is undergoing treatment, the officer said.
According to reports, doctors at Safdarjung said that her private parts were damaged with serious injuries and needed multiple surgeries.
A report by India Today claims that the girl had cut marks over her face, abdomen, rectum and vagina.
According to the report, she underwent a 3-hour colostomy to get an alternate opening to pass stool and she will have to live with a stool bag for the next few months.
Reports also said that the girl was raped and sodomized and her body was found covered with gashes made using knife.
The girl was said to have been playing with her friends near the railway crossing which has a few liquor shops near it.
She said to have been brutalized by two men who offered her biscuits and toffees. A woman who went to defecate in a cover of trees near the railway tracks found her unconscious and bleeding and brought her to her home.
"She is admitted in the High Dependency Unit. She is conscious and out of danger but still in pain," medical superintendent of Safdarjung hospital, A K Rai, said.
"She was brought to our hospital at around 8 PM yesterday night after being referred by Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital. She had injury on her private parts and doctors operated on her last night," he said.
The girl, whose father is a painter, was playing outside her house when she went missing. Her grandparents tried to search for her, but she could not be found, police said.
A case under relevant sections of IPC and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Acts has been registered and a manhunt has been launched to arrest the accused, who are yet to be identified, he said.
There is an eatery in the slum where alcoholics and miscreants assembled late night. It is suspected that the accused could be frequent visitors of those shops, a local youth working with an NGO said.
"We have zeroed in on some suspects and we are keeping a watch. Once the girl recovers, we will be able to get more clues about the accused," the officer added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal met the victim at the hospital.
"Visited the little girl, her condition can't be described. Horrific. Her parents are extremely poor. When will this heinous crime stop in Delhi (sic)," Maliwal tweeted.
"Everyday we have a Nirbhaya in Delhi and Nirbhaya Fund is lying unused. Pathetic.
"In 2014, only 9 accused were convicted in Delhi in crime against women. Can you imagine! Tabhi to Delhi mei kisi ko darr nai hai (That's why no one is scared in Delhi)," she tweeted.
(With inputs from PTI)