5-yr-old rape victim's condition gradually improving: Doctor

The condition of the five-year-old rape victim is "gradually" improving but it will be at least two weeks before she is discharged from the hospital in the capital where activists today staged protests demanding resignation of Delhi Police chief.

22-year-old Manoj Kumar, arrested in the rape case from Bihar yesterday and flown here last evening, will be produced in a court tomorrow, Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said.

The child is responding well to the antibiotics, Dr D K Sharma, Medical Superintendent of AIIMS, where the girl was admitted two days back, told reporters.

"We are trying to control the infection in her body and she is responding well. It will take at least two weeks to discharge her from the hospital," he said. The victim has undergone colostomy and other surgical procedures for her injuries.

"She is showing gradual recovery and has slept well in the night. At present her vital parameters are stable. She is conscious, alert and talking to parents, doctors and nurses. She is having mild fever which is showing improvement. As such there is no danger to her life," Sharma said.

Protesters gathered outside Police Headquarters and AIIMS for the second day today to express solidarity with the five-year-old girl and sought the resignation of Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar.

Though not in large numbers, the protesters of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) shouted slogans against Kumar and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Scores of activists of BJP's Mahila Morcha were detained and taken to a nearby police station when they staged a protest outside Congress president Sonia Gandhi's residence.

The women activists had marched from party headquarters on Ashoka Road to Gandhi's 10-Janpath residence.

They broke the barricades near Gandhi's residence, but were prevented from moving forward.