PM 'deeply disturbed', criticises own government

Hitting out at his own government in no uncertain terms, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday told the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to find out how the police lathicharged the protesting family of a five-year-old rape victim, who is fighting for life in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

The Prime Minister's Office said Singh was "deeply disturbed" on hearing the news about the child and the "completely unacceptable treatment meted out by police officers to some women protesting against this incident".

The PM spoke to the Lieutenant Governor and conveyed the need for "the strictest possible action to be taken against the erring officials" and also for appropriate medical care to be provided to the young victim.

Delhi city elections are due next year and the law and order in the national capital is the responsibility of the Centre.

While the PMO swung into action 48 hours after the incident had occurred, it is still quicker than the three days it took to react after a young woman was raped in a moving bus in the capital a few months ago. She died later, but not before thousands of young people poured onto the streets to protest against the incident and held the capital under siege for days.

In the latest case, the young girl was kidnapped, confined without food or water, physically tortured, and raped for two days. She was found in a critical condition on Friday. The police is still on the lookout for the accused, who is on the run.

The traumatised child was initially admitted in Swami Dayanand Hospital, but was later shifted to AIIMS for better treatment.

As news of the brutality on the girl came out, angry protesters, including workers of the Aam Aadmi Party, protested outside the Gandhi Nagar police station and at the hospital where the child was admitted since Wednesday morning.