An eight-month-old Indian girl was recovering in hospital Tuesday after she was raped at her home in Delhi, the latest such case in a country notorious for high levels of sexual violence.
The girl’s parents rushed her to hospital after discovering her bed covered in blood when they returned from work on Sunday. She later underwent a three-hour operation for her injuries.
Read also: Rape: Accused admitted to Hospital as Locals Beaten up Badly
According to reports, the girl’s 27-year-old cousin had been arrested and charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, meaning he could face a life sentence.
“The worst has happened,” tweeted Swati Maliwal, the head of the Delhi Commission for Women, after visiting the girl in hospital.
She said the girl had to undergo a three-hour operation.
“Her heart-rending cries could be heard in the intensive-care unit of the hospital. She has horrific injuries in her internal organs,” she tweeted.
She posted another tweet expressing her anguish.
“What to do? How can Delhi sleep today when 8 month baby has been brutally raped in capital? Have we become so insensitive or we have simply accepted this as our fate?” she tweeted.
Ms Maliwal also posted a direct appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “stricter laws and more police resources” were needed to protect girls in the country.
Read also: Minor raped by a minor in Sangsari
Scrutiny of sexual violence has grown in India since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in the capital Delhi.
The crime sparked days of protests and forced the government to introduce tougher anti-rape laws, including the death penalty.
However, brutal sexual attacks against women and children continue to be reported across the country.
